


Reflection Code

by MF217



Series: Citadel of the Heart [3]
Category: Code Lyoko, Original Work, Sword Art Online
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, F/M, Gen, Mild Gore, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prequel, Shared Universe, Stealth Crossover, Virtual Reality, late arrival spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-05-31 17:48:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15124697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MF217/pseuds/MF217
Summary: (Re-upload from FF.net for some of my readers who can't access that site.)Over the course of 90 years, Project Carthage proved time and time again that the forces of nature were never meant to be abused by mankind; the ultimate result of Franz Schaeffer's infamous legacy is awoken once again, and its design by nature has it fueled by unyielding hatred and agony. So what now, however, does this sudden change in behavior happen and why? AU.(Note: The beginning takes place three months prior to Sword Art Online: Special Edition, which exists in the same continuity)





	1. Prologue: Eye of Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This work is a non-profit fan fiction for Code Lyoko. I do not own Code Lyoko nor do I own any of the characters aside from original characters I have created solely for this story. Likewise, the names and or characterization of canon characters may or may not have been altered for the purpose of this fan fiction, but that does not mean I necessarily own them nor does that automatically make them original characters as well. The property of Code Lyoko belongs to Tania Polumbo and Thomas Romain, which in turn is distributed by Antefilms, MoonScoop Group, Taffy Entertainment, and France 3. Please support the official works.

Sometimes you already knew the outcome in a situation. At least, that is, that is what you assume for coming into a situation like this. You've been through this before, all sorts of routine in which you think you already knew the outcome. Day after day, year after year, the repetition of this routine begins to go on, even to this day. Perhaps that maybe this is why things choose not to remain the same; perhaps it is why things are not as fatalistic as they seem.

"Getting a little too confident of yourself, perhaps?" A tall, somewhat old male spoke as he gazed upon a room in which he and some others were sitting within; the sterile nature of the room, as well as the soundproofed windows, meant the room appeared in pristine isolation from the outside world. At the end of the large table, another male, much younger in age with his brown hair simply radiant, sat with his hands folded together as he sighed.

"No, perhaps I'm getting carried away with this more than I think." The younger man spoke, as in the room sat a woman with what appeared to be large, puffy hair akin to pink marshmallows sat as she looked at the two men arguing, as she looked somewhat irritated as to the argument she seeing going on between these men.

"Ken, Akihiko, can you both focus on the situation and think about how reality works? It has been over 90 years since it was sealed away in this facility; at its very core it was reinforced further, and further, until the ultimate prison for it was built which has lasted until this very day." The pinkette simply told off the two men, as one of the scientists worked on calmly walking over with a tray in hand as he set it down on the table; a kettle he took from the from the tray as he set a glass in front of the woman as he poured her a drink first.

"Ms. Hopper… Er, Ms. Schaeffer…? Whatever, point is, here's your coffee you wanted this fine morning." A taller, slender male with blackish brown hair and dark brown eyes spoke up, as the woman picked up her glass and had a calm sniffed of it, before pouring the liquid within onto the man's arm as she heard him yelp and recoil backwards from the burning of it against his skin.

"Mrs. Schaeffer, Nobuyuki; you and that Lowell prick keep thinking I'm single just because my husband is missing, and the fact you had the audacity to put that in my drink is just disgusting you sick fu-"

"Anthea?" Ken and Akihiko both spoke up, as opening the door and entering the room appeared a relatively fine, sharp dressed man; had it not been for his crazed choice of haircut and in its blond, crown-like "glory".

"Mr. Sugou you're lucky no information ever leaves this room or else you'd be in jail a good, what, 5-7 years before now?" Tyron scolded Nobuyuki as he pushed him aside and walked over towards Akihiko. "Personally I don't understand why you're gathering here on a lazy morning like today; the experiments have been inactive, security is all set to go, none of the AI's have-"

Before anybody could shut him up the alarm suddenly began to blare in everyone's ears as the entire, white lit room turned red in lighting.

[Warning. AI breach in the facility. Threat Level: 9. Warning.]

Akihiko smacked his face at Tyron's poor sense of timing. "Oh this had better be important, as in somebody be dying or-" A las the timing on Akihiko, however, was more unfortunate than Lowell's; within seconds, his whole head was reduced to a blown open husk as he dropped to the floor. Everyone was shocked, until the hostile growls of something in the room, alongside a gunshot could be heard as Anthea, Nobuyuki, and Lowell gasped as some large, thin, four digit clawed humanoid with an asymmetrical face had pounced on Ken, before suddenly being kicked off of him and promptly filled with lead once Ken secured the grip of his revolver and fired a well-timed shot into the creature's head.

"Is nobody going to question why Ken had a firearm on hand or-" Tyron asked, as the entire facility suddenly shook underneath their feet as the four adults fell to the ground in shock.

[Warning. AI breaching the outer wall of the facility. Threat Level: 3. Report all personal to the quarantine zone immediately; all armed staff proceed to the impact zone. Warning.]

"Well as much as I hate to run, I'm armed and I'm staff so I'll be making my leave now." Ken said as he didn't waste time in rushing out the door, flat out charging the door off of its frame as he suddenly fired a shot open towards something he turned to suddenly face as various, hawk-like screeching could be heard in sheer aggression.

Anthea, meanwhile, was quick to grab a fire ax from an emergency store case, as Nobuyuki and Lowell gawked at the audacity she was about to put herself through. "Madam I do fear for your life if you're insisting on letting us try and escape alive…" Lowell spoke up, as when Anthea was walking to the door, she casually stomped her foot into the still, semi-alive corpse of the robotic humanoid still in the room attempting to sneak out.

"I'll gladly take that risk just to see him again." Anthea said, rather coldly and without emotion, as she walked out of the room, all the while Nobuyuki looked towards Lowell and looked nervous. As the two men looked out the room, they couldn't see a trace of Anthea despite her slow exit, and Ken could only be heard off in the distance of the facility with his revolver. Down on the lower floor visible from this one, Lowell noticed as the lower floors was having an out of nowhere surge of water pour through them.

Staff struggling to fend off the robotic humanoids who were on the next floor below, became caught in the crossfire of the incoming surge of water and were quickly washed away by the current. Lowell looked over towards Nobuyuki, noticing how he was quickly typing away on some kind of device on his right arm.

"Nobuyuki what are you-" Lowell asked in a quiet tone, as the sudden dimness of the lights before him were suddenly what caused him to turn to face the way to the lower floors; in front of him appeared to be the side of something's skull-like face; giving off the appearance of a whale skull covered in human skin, heavily exposed pores for nostrils, and having its eyes fish eyed and having an empty, distracted look in its eye visible towards the two men on the side of its huge head.

Slowly opening its maw inch by inch as it seemingly flat out ignored the duo, deliberate or not, an immense glow appeared in the darkening of the facility's lights from the creature's maul and pores in the creature's armored backside.

"NOBUYUKI GET DOWN!" Lowell shouted as Nobuyuki was merely standing like a deer in the headlights at the sight of this giant monstrosity in the middle of the room, as the giant beast exhaled from its breath an immense wave of fog from its mouth with an electrical surge surrounding the particles it breathed out. Suddenly, the area behind the creature collapsed as what appeared to be the creature's massive, spike tipped tail raised itself up, before dropping back to the ground with a tremendous quake that shook the entire foundation once more.

In the immediate aftershock of the breath of smog exhaled towards the front, the stray particles exploded upon the sudden force of energy exerted by the entity's tail; destroying virtually every part of the facility in its path, the creature proceeded forward as its footsteps were loud as it didn't make much other sounds as it moved. Nobuyuki moved to stand up as Lowell slowly got up as well after just witnessing what had happened, which the alarms made all the more clear.

[Warning. All security offline during AI breach. Threat Level: 1. War-]

That was all the alarm could finish before even the backup reserves of power failed on it; cutting offline as Lowell's eyes widened in horror, he looked around and moved to run down the hall towards the right. "ANTHEA!" Lowell shouted as Nobuyuki looked upon Lowell's act of foolishness; the right was also the way the giant creature was heading. Nobuyuki, at first, was about to turn the other way and run.

Until confronted face to face with a humanoid, pitch black entity, that suddenly began to glow with an immense light as on its small, featureless head formed a glowing, eye-like marking before and it suddenly materialized a baton-like weapon from its left arm. Nobuyuki, turning the opposite way and running away from the humanoid entity, was greeted to Ken retreating out towards the destroyed hall as he could be heard simply grabbing whatever weapon he could get himself a hold of; right now holding off a swarm of the reptilian robots from before, he was quick to fire with his revolver using both of his arms to steady his arm as he nailed each of them through their heads with a single, well placed bullet.

Nobuyuki, though, was pushed from the boundaries of the railing and lunged upon by a shining, pristine silver specimen of the same robotic life-forms, as it turned to face Nobuyuki up as the droid's eyes ignited into a bright, cyan blue. As Ken moved to shoot at the silver specimen, it moved with speed even he couldn't comprehend as the silver specimen, without even giving Ken the chance to react, hacked off Ken's legs without him even getting chance to respond to its swift movements. Nobuyuki, screaming as he backed into a corner in the wall as he watched Ken get his legs butchered off by the entity, was forcefully grabbed with haste by the silver specimen as it dragged him along at an incredible pace towards the outer wall.

"Hands off ladies, the ringer wants this one!" The droid shouted in an obscene, Russian accent with a butch voice, as Nobuyuki was tossed out into the open yard and was watched by numerous, gray colored copies of the silver specimen that suddenly stopped in movement to watch what was about to unfold.

At the gate of the facility, appeared the massive, lumbering form of a borderline Kaiju-esque monster of sorts; it didn't move an inch from where it stood, as its stance on all fours didn't change at all. Its eyes, appearing to be dulled as its attention seemed rather distant from the waking world, were suddenly all being aimed at with tracking lasers by the reptilian droids right behind Nobuyuki. The silver specimen's voice, though…

"FIRE ON MY BEHALF!" The silver specimen spoke, not in its own voice, but in Nobuyuki's voice as the hive of clawed reptilians opened fire with their eye beams as even with the concentrated firepower from them, it still didn't cause the giant entity to budge, giving Nobuyuki just enough time to continue typing away at a device on his wrist.

"OVERIDE OVERIDE OVERIDE!" Nobuyuki shouted at once as before he could even realize it his own body began to quickly dissipate into particles, as Nobuyuki disappeared from sight all the while he was chuckling madly as he did. Appearing in his place landed a relatively short, normal looking human wearing a black robe that landed with a loud thud and pained groan.

"Huh… wha-… why did that guy kick me out of…" The man, speaking in a naïve, near child-like voice, spoke, appearing no older than 18 in appearance as he slowly moved to stand, slowly looked on with his eyes widening in immense horror upon seeing the monster facing him directly; having turned its massive form around when the others weren't paying attention.

The entity, suddenly charging forward with its jaws opened wide as it lunged at the poor sap, quickly shook the child-like entity around in its mouth as it closed its mouth and made a swallowing motion…

Before near immediately regretting the decision; as an immense, powerful surge of energy suddenly erupted from its left eye as it was completely incinerated upon contact with this uncontained beam of energy forging into a giant blade; the silver specimen, beginning to flee the scene with all of the others, was only to leave too late to know the giant had collapsed onto the ground as it forcefully vomited up the child-like entity into the air above.

In the wake of everything that had happened, though, from the child-like entity was dropped a large, single shard of some kind of crystal that descended to the ground below and entered into the hole in the giant's eye as it was attempting to regenerate. All it would ever see from that eye again was a bright flash as its agonizing roar echoed in the distance for what appeared to be miles away from here.

From who knows how far away it could be heard unleashing its pained howl; in the crater left behind of the facility, the creature appeared near dead as it lay with its jaws open on the ground. A small amount of movement caused the giant to give a loud, agonizing growl as it moved to try and process what exactly had happened. As its giant form was degenerating into a much smaller, compressed form as its right eye was watering with how it was trying to regain its sight to look around, the creature could feel the downpour of rain upon it from which it didn't know truly how long it had lasted.

By the time it was able to open its now sole eye, it could vaguely see the image of something, very, very slowly, walking up towards it; the crater appeared to be long gone; the creature appeared to have wondered off aimlessly with no ability to recall where was what and who was who before it.

"A-Are… are you hurt?" The sound of an innocent, child's voice asked out towards the entity. The entity, now in a more humanoid form, albeit towering over the small child still, tried to rub its eye with its wrist as it tried to regain its sense of clear vision towards the small child before it.

"M… m… m-my…" The entity was dryly attempting to speak, as it suddenly fell on one knee from sudden, immense pain it now felt there as it looked to see the sheer amount of blood having been spilt onto its whole left side. The child, moving to carefully lay a hand on the creature's forehead, was met with a hostile gaze, quickly shedding away to an odd form of concern.

"W-w-hy…" The entity spoke out, as pained as it was able to do so, before completely falling unconscious onto the ground before the child in its presence. The child, very calmly and very gently, moved to check on the creature's vitals as it investigated whether it was still alive. As the rain showed no sign of stopping, the boy moved to try and carefully pick up one of its left arm, moving to try and drag its body out of the rain and into somewhere safe. Seeing an abandoned den up ahead, the child didn't stop dragging the entity's body until it was completely within the safe, semi-bedded covering of the den before it.

"Hiroki! Hiroki, where'd you run off to? You'll catch a cold out there!" A woman's voice called out, as the child appeared to turn his head to respond. He didn't speak at all, but the boy moved to take off his coat as he moved to place it over the creature before him. He simply looked over towards where he had heard the voice.

"I'm coming mom, just give me a moment!" Hiroki said, as he looked upon the entity before him with a concerned look for the creature's wellbeing.

"I wish I knew why I had this gut feeling to save you after what just happened when you stumbled across me… Was I taking advantage of some fool who was too out of it to realize what he was doing? Was I genuinely looking out for someone who saved my in return even if they didn't truly mean it? What was my reason you ask…?" The boy, named Hiroki asked towards the unconscious, unmoving form of the creature before him.

"As much as we would all like to know that answer, I-I'm.. I'm sorry; I wish I knew why myself. I've already had to lie to bail out my older sister as it is… maybe you're just like her in some ways… who knows, either way, I'll come back for you in the morning to check on you… if you're still even alive, that is… Either way, please do me a favor and wait for me to show up, alright?" Hiroki spoke up towards the dormant creature, as Hiroki moved to back away, and slowly began to walk off, before heading off in a running sprint to get himself out of the rain as well.

Hours would pass, and the rain continued to fall, and appearing before the creature in its comatose state appeared to be small amounts of movement coming from it; suddenly, its eye shot open as its violet form analyzed the surroundings it now had before it, all the while letting out a pained, exhausted and raspy sounding growl.

The rain had stopped by this point, soon having given way to various insects chirping at the late night hours, sometimes accompanied by another animal's late night call. The entity remained still, as it simply took in the starry skies before its view outside of the den. The creature remained motionless outside of its pained, raspy breathing, as it looked straight into the cosmic void of space the night sky was able to show as the creature's thoughts were beginning to stir.

"W-Why… Why I am allowed to live…?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (AN: It's kind of a Late-Arrival Spoiler for SAO: Special Edition that this work takes place in considering the prologue is an abridged version of the infamous breakout that allows for Chronicler to escape into the open and kick start the plot of that fic. That being said, don't expect too many crossover elements despite the fact Ayano Keiko will be a major character here, considering she's otherwise a minor character in SAO: Special Edition. Now then, considering the breakout focused on two primary escapees, SAO Special Edition focuses on the being Chronicler, whereas Reflection Code focuses on the opposite end of the spectrum with Mirror M.)


	2. Chapter 1: William Dunbar the Third

_Three days prior…_

* * *

A calm, late-summer breeze fills the air; the forests surrounding Kadic University have a fresh smell to them at this time of year. Birds are chirping, small rodents roaming the area; a lone polecat prowling the area in search of prey, its nose sniffing its surroundings as it stops in place every now and then and listens to nearby signals. As it halts in movement upon hearing a twig snap, it turns to its left and notices a human walking through the woods as it turns the opposite direction and runs away into the cover of the bushes nearby.

"So this is Kadic University… It has been a long time since I've been here as a mere teen." A gruff, Scottish accent sounding voice spoke; its tone, clearly masculine, spoke with an experienced, aged tone as the male observes the sudden end of the natural soil to the more streamlined, metallic pavement of the foundation of the facility before him. The male, a black haired brunet with a black sweater and dark blue jeans, and rather tall at a near 6'9", slowly resumes his walk up to the facility until he is stopped by a gate with an unlock terminal next to the entrance.

Taking a card out of his jean pockets, the brunet swipes the card into the terminal before inputting the numbers "2-0-1-7" into the terminal, as the gate unlocks as he walks inside; seemingly vanishing through an invisible field within the gate, as the gate shuts and locks itself again. Inside the facility, where appears to be nobody in view from outside, appears many students and staff members walking around the campus during the afternoon hours of the day. The brunet moves to walk over towards a rather portly male, who was napping on a bench, as the brunet sighs as he moves to grab hold of the overweight male, lifting him well over his shoulders, as the heavier male snorts and gasps as he realizes what was going on.

"O-Oh, uh, sorry for napping on the job Mr. Dunbar, didn't expect you to show up this early." The man spoke, as the Mr. Dunbar simply gave the hefty man a glare.

"Call me William, please; I've already told you I prefer to address people by their first name. So you do me a favor, Jim, and refer to me the same as I do the others." William corrected Jim, as he put Jim back down on the bench, sitting him up and his attention focusing on William.

"I take it all those orders from your former Drill Sargent paid off?" Jim asks with a bit of a smug satisfaction at William's strength, as William raises an eye.

"Didn't you always say you would rather not talk about it?" William asked with a chuckle, as Jim gulps a bit nervously, before regaining his composure and looking at William in the eye as he moves to stand.

"First of all, William, I'm no longer you P.E. teacher, but I at least deserve some respect from any student past or present. Got it, William?" Jim asks, as William was already looking in another direction; of all of the people he notices on the campus grounds, he couldn't help but notice someone new; a kid, approximately 18 years old, with blond hair that was gelled to hang low to give the impression of some kind of pretty boy, as his entire attire consisted of a bright violet shirt and pants, and a darker magenta undershirt.

"Nobody informed me of a new kid arriving, so when did this happen, Jimbo?" William asked, as he gestures with his head to nod over towards the blond, as Jim looks over his shoulder to have a look for himself.

"Well for one I'm not sure why you're asking that, but-" Jim began to say, before he stops himself and has a look over towards William, who simply had a sly, smug grin on his face. "W-William Dunbar, as in, William Dunbar the Third, as in, THE William Dunbar the Third who kept getting expelled for putting up posters a good twenty some years ago?!" Jim asked, as William chuckled a bit.

"You knew right away who I actually was upon just one simple choice of wording, didn't you, Jimbo?" William asks with a smirk as Jim, as aged as he looked, slowly began to chuckle a little as it soon turns into joyful laughter.

"William, my old pupil, oh my how have the days been kind to you good sir!" Jim exclaims as he holds his arms out, as William moves to embrace Jim as Jim embraces William back, still laughing all the while patting his former student on the back.

"You mistook me for my grandfather, just as I predicted after all these years of being away for so long." William spoke, as he and Jim moved to let go of one another as Jim coughed to regain his composure after letting the fact a former student of his would be working alongside him, as he just now recalls what William had asked before the sudden reunion came to mind.

"So, anyways, you're wondering about who Odd Della Robbia is I take it? Might I ask why you're focusing on him in particular? I mean, it's not like you know everyone else new here as well since you've been gone for so long and-"

"Did you search him and his dorm for anything suspicious, Jimbo? You know damn well what had happened the last time I was here and we had a pretty boy like him show up one day; he made national headlines for rape allegations in record speed, for goodness sakes, Jimbo!" William scolds Jim as Jim's gaze turns serious as to that little reminder of the past.

"Aaah… Right; you're still the no fun allowed guy it seems. Like father like son, I suppose. Either way, we've already done a search on both him and his dorm he shares with Stern's son, and so far both him, the dorm, and Mr. Stern are on completely clean slates." Jim informs William in regards to his concerns, as William breathes in and sighs in relief.

"Sheesh, Jimbo; you had me worried sick for a moment there; he's at least carrying protection on him for both parties, right?" William asks, as Jim nods.

"Yes sir; now then, anything else before I get back to work and see you off to see Jean? I'm certain the old fool would like his last year working here to see one of his former students working here." Jim asked of William, to which William took a moment to think.

' _So one of Stern's kids is here? I'll need to keep that in mind.'_  William thought to himself, before shaking his head to Jim, "That'll be all; I'll go head off and see Jean right now." William said, as he waved goodbye to Jim as Jim waves back once William was beginning to walk off. Jim, getting his mind clear and straight after that reintroduction, looked over towards two, much younger kids staring at Jim with an intriguing gaze.

"What are you two looking at? Go off and play, or something!"

* * *

As William walked towards the main building proper, he walks up towards the sterilized, clean and refined metal walls as he placed his hand on a terminal which opens up a door before him, leading him into a large hallway. Walking inside, William took in the fact the lights brighten with each spot he steps further in, and slowly would dim as he walks away from where he once stood prior. Moving to place his hand on a terminal up ahead at the end of the hall, ignoring the three entries on his right side, he was quick to notice the door already opening.

"Hmm? Are you here to see Mr. Delmas?" A younger, black haired brunette spoke; her entire clothing choices consisting of nothing but black with a shirt exposing her midriff, as William's eyes widen a tiny bit at the rather unusual gaze this woman, looking no older than her early 20s, was giving him right now. The woman's eyes were practically… hypnotic, to say the least; something about looking at her in the eye didn't feel right, and William didn't want to bother trying to disturb this stranger for answers.

"Yes; yes I am." William answered the woman, before adding, "My name is William Dunbar. What is your name if I may ask?" William asks of the woman, as the woman raises an eye at him.

"… Awfully young for William from what I've been told about you. Are you a relative of his?" The woman asked, as William nodded.

"I'm technically William the Third; don't question it too much, it's a long story." William explains to her, to which the woman finally responded with what William had asked of her.

"Ishiyama Yumi. It's a pleasure to meet you; I'll stay out of your way, just don't force yourself on Jérémie too hard, alright? Delmas won't like that invasion of personal space." Yumi introduced, as Yumi moved to walk past a bemused William and out through one of the other doorways in the hall.

As William thought about it for a moment before clearing his mind up, he recalled how security was going to be increasingly tighter as the days progressed for the new year of classes, so William just shrugged it off and went into the room in front of him to see Mr. Delmas. Sitting in a chair, rather distracted by something on his computer, was a rather old, older than Jim at least, man with gray hair with a full beard and moustache and large eyebrows, and being out of shape but looking strong for his age regardless.

"Jean? It's me, William; William the Third. You wished to hire me as a security guard?" William brought up to the man before him, as shutting the program off on his computer, the old man turns his gaze towards William; adjusting his glasses as he did.

"William…? Is that really you after all of these years?" Jean spoke, as William nodded, to which Jean coughed to regain his composure to respond, "I must say, you're rather impressive in growth after what you were when you were a mere lad. I'm honestly very impressed by your maturity you're showing both physically and mentally. Well done, my old student." Jean spoke, as he moves to slowly stand up as he grabs a nearby cane to help steady himself as he walked over towards William, being significantly shorter than the younger man before him.

"Don't force yourself to get up, Jean; you can sit still if you want." William said with concern towards Jean, but Jean, rather jollily, chuckled as to William's remark.

"I'm a senior, true; but I'm not weak; I've only got one more year with my beloved students and I want to make the best of it however I truly desire it." Jean said as he disregards William's concern, but nevertheless smiled as he stops in front of him. "But nevertheless, you've proven my point; your maturity shows concern for the elderly regardless of their own intents and reasons. I can appreciate anybody who is willing to understand the people's plight in this day and age, but alas those people are few and far between among the student body." Jean said, as he looks down a bit to fiddle around with his cane in place, before moving to look up William; gesturing William to lean down to face him directly, to which William responded to as if on cue.

"You have grown so much since you were last in any of my classes in this university, William; you may not be familiar anymore with what you used to be like, but your eyes and stoic expression, posture, and tone is a far cry of the hormone crazed young man I remember first being introduced to so long ago." Jean said, as he gestures for William to return to his normal stance, as William stood back up straight and looked around the room.

"I can understand your appreciation for how well I've aged, sir; but might I ask why security is going to require me of all people to help out?" William asked of Jean, as Jean slowly inhaled, as he let out a rather quiet sigh.

"You remember how this is also a boarding school, correct?" Jean asked, to which William nodded, "Good, now I want you to listen; there has been a boy sneaking out after curfew, spotted on the cameras late at night; every night he sneaks out around the exact same time, but Jim is already fast asleep by the time he does. His name is-"

"Jérémie?" William inquired, to which Jean looked rather surprised by William's question.

"How… How did you know his name?" Jean asked, "You never even met Jérémie before, nor did anyone else at this school; he has been attending for years, true, but he has always stayed out of trouble until now to where even the other staff wouldn't know his name yet alone his current problems." Jean details to William, as William raised an eye.

"Were you not just a moment ago talking with Yumi about him, Jean?" William asked, as Jean raised an eye.

"… Remind me to ask her how she would know his name so early; she only just today was hired, so she shouldn't know any names yet or-… N-Never mind; let's get back to the point. My apologies for that, William, it's probably nothing I should get involved with." Jean spoke up, before pulling up a remote from his desk and tapping a button on it; a holographic screen projects itself in the middle of the room as the lights went incredibly dim, as William looks towards the screen to have a look at the footage being shown.

"On this screen is the security footage covering the last four days and four nights, covering every hour in which Jérémie was sighted at night leaving the campus grounds at approximately 4 in the morning." Jean noted, as William saw on-screen every night at 4 in the morning and notices Jérémie leaving undetected by any onsite personal, but William quickly notices something with the footage.

"Why is it we only have footage of him leaving the campus? He's not shown in any of these returning." William asked, as Jean looks at William with a serious gaze.

"That is the question that has been bugging everyone in the whole staff; nobody has ever been able to catch Jérémie red handed; he's always fast asleep in his dorm as if nothing had ever happened by the time anyone could remotely accuse him on the spot. We have evidence that he leaves after curfew, but we have no witnesses aside from security cameras giving us the feed." Jean spoke, as he scrolled through the footage to check and see if maybe he had missed something, and to see if William could spot something he couldn't.

"Jean, stop the footage on the third day at 2:33 in the morning; I noticed something." William said to Jean, as Jean rolled back the footage to the third day at 2:33. At first, everything appeared to be normal. Below the footage appeared to be small bars rising up and down every now and then, all the while something was clearly moving, but even William couldn't identify it.

"What the hell…?" William whispered to himself as he gestured for Jean to focus on the moving figure in the footage, just right outside of the fenced off campus grounds but just out of range of the lights. "Can you possibly zoom in and brighten the figure here?" William asked, as Jean complied with William's concerned suggestion.

Zooming in on the figure, the audio suddenly crackle in sound as if it was the sound of bone suddenly crunching and snapping apart, as the figure's "head" twists around as two small, pinprick eyes moved to suddenly stare at the camera, glowing in the dark as they did. The figure, suddenly vanishing in sight, causes the footage to short out before the power in the whole room went offline. Jean and William were startled, to say the least, but they were quick to regain their composure after the small jolt they both felt.

"Well… awkward way to start the first day of the job, isn't it?" Jean, rather casually, spoke to William with a small hint of sarcasm to his voice, all the while William nodded.

"It would be wise if I spoke with Jérémie directly on this matter. Is it possible for us to bring him in at some point for questioning?" William asked Jean, to which Jean took a moment to think before answering.

"Hmm, it would be wise, but right now he's attending a class that I'm afraid interrupting his studies would be a hindrance for the best of his abilities. Besides, trouble this may be, he does keep his grades in check so I highly doubt he'll need anything other than a slap on the wrist if even that." Jean answered William, to which he slowly moves to sit back down in his seat and let loose a sigh.

"Either way, William, perhaps you should try and familiarize yourself with the surroundings before nightfall. The day's still young, the advances in technology might take some getting used to since the last time you were here, among other matters that might make your time here go by easier. With that out of the way, if you'll excuse me, I have some matters to attend to, so I'd like to have some time to myself to think about what has been going on as of late." Jean said to William to dismiss him, as William nodded and quietly left the room.

As William walked out into the hallway and back towards the entrance to the elevator, he put his hand on the terminal to call for it, as he waits patiently on it as before it opens, he realizes a little too late it was coming from below; last he recall, the foundation didn't have a basement. How much else has changed since he was last here?

"Fancy meeting you again so soon. Are you heading up, Mr. Dunbar?" Yumi's voice spoke up from inside the elevator, as William blinks in slight shock, before nodding to her and stepping inside the elevator with her.

"Y-Yeah, that'll be fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Okay I know you don't need to be that strong to be able to lift a two-hander like William's Zweihänder from both the show and its real-life namesake, considering at most those type of swords weigh no more than 10 lbs./4.5 kg, even considering the former's exaggerated size for the blade, but I felt like making William absurdly strong wasn't too out of left field considering that's the least weirdest thing this story has to offer. Also you'll notice this chapter may seem unusual compared to my past uploads, primarily because I actually did proper spell checking and grammar checking with this one. Let me know how you think I did with this one whenever you guys feel like it.


	3. Chapter 2: Psychosis

The interior of the elevator showcases the entire exterior of the walls, floors, and ceiling of the compartment itself to be made of some kind of transparent metal; definitely not class, as William's footsteps allow him to hear the distinct clanking of metal being touched by a hefty weight. William, at this point, doesn't do anything; he waits to see what Yumi does first; her coincidental appearances are bothering her, so he simply leaves the terminal at bay all the while thinking about going to floor two to see the homeroom of his former science teacher.

Yumi activates the terminal with a press of her hand, and sends the duo heading up to floor three.

"You seem rather bothered, Mr. Dunbar." Yumi says to William in a stoic manner, as William hesitantly nods.

"Kind of, just talking things over with Jean about my job here; looks like you've only recently signed up for a job here as well?" William asks Yumi, as Yumi nods.

"Yes, I'm also going to be working security just like you will be." Yumi tells William, as William stops what he was about to say, only to try and begin to speak, before Yumi interrupts him.

"You're a strong man who can easily lift Jim up over his shoulder; why else would you be hired here? Jim doesn't have the stamina he had used to have in the past, so you're more or less going to be Jim's replacement as a security guard." Yumi explains, as William looks less than amused with the choice of wording.

"Replacement my ass-"

"Language; there are children present here." Yumi interrupts again, as William closes his eyes as he pinches his brow to try and concentrate, as he lets loose an exasperated sigh. He sets his hand on the wall nearest to him away from Yumi, as William's eyes glance over the elevator's small room.

"Something tells me you're going to be finding yourself in my path very often, aren't you?" William asks Yumi, as Yumi looks the other way, all the while William notices something in her sudden movement.

"Honestly it's like you consider that something hard to accomplish." Yumi states to William, her emotion somewhat perking up, but only by a small amount to where William takes notice; Yumi had been relatively stoic until now, and William had been wary on Yumi once he had talked to Jean about Jérémie.

"So I have a question, Yumi; care I ask how exactly you know about something going on with Jérémie?" William asks, before adding, "I mean, I don't even know the guy yet and already you're wanting me and Jean to go easy on him and-"

"He's on the spectrum." Yumi interrupts with a harsher, yet still emotionless tone that catches William off guard, before William lets out a sigh as he rubs his temples.

"Riiight… special needs kid, got it, that answers most of my questions… except for why he's breaking curfew according to the security footage." William said, as Yumi blinks.

"… You seem oddly reassured with telling me this information, William."

"Well maybe that's because I had just discovered your little trick, Yumi." William says, as he points to the metal walls. "These walls are transparent, and we've yet to come across any other elevator doors right now; we're not actually moving right now." William says, as he catches Yumi's attention, but notes her expression remains stoic.

"And from what Jim told me earlier about Stern's kid being a student here, from what I've last talked to about him a week ago, he mentioned his son has the hots for a girl capable of doing magic tricks."

"William, stop-"

"Perhaps those kinds of tricks explain why and how Jérémie avoids getting caught red handed?!"

"WILLIAM!" Yumi shouts as she holds her palm outwards as William is suddenly sent recoiling back into the wall, a noticeable crack in the metal forming as William yells in excruciating pain over a sudden jolt along his spine having been hit as if with the force of a metal baseball bat. William falls onto the floor, panting heavily as he recovers from the impact, all the while Yumi holds her hands over her mouth as her eyes widen in horror.

"W-William, I…. I-I'm…" Yumi stutters as she's recovering from the shock of witnessing what had happened to William; what she had done to William when she had been pushed too far. Even if William was getting nosy, even he didn't deserve the physical pain that still surges from his backside right now.

William, grabbing a hold of a nearby railing in the middle of the walls of the elevator, lifts himself up as Yumi moves to try and assist him with getting up; William, gently, pushes her away to signal her to stay back, giving her a shocked, confused, and disorientated glare of questioning right now to her.

"When and how?" William asks as he still catches his breath, as Yumi blinks for a moment in surprise.

"W-Wh-What..."

"You didn't lay a hand on me at all when that happened, Yumi… You're a psychic, I can assure you that; literally checking the security footage will prove that." William states to Yumi, as Yumi shudders a bit as she holds her hand out and more blatantly conjures up a rift in space before the two of them.

"Do you want to get to the floor you're going to? Lunch is due to begin soon and I'd really just-"

"Yumi you can't dodge this subject forever; you're a psychic, your powers are going to get discovered by everyone at some point, and there's going to be nowhere to run about it once that happens, the very least you can do is give me some answers to avoid further accidents!" William yells at Yumi to get his point across, as Yumi pulls her hand back, the wave of energy dissipating, as space warps back to normal around the two of them.

"Alright… meet me at my quarters on the third floor and leave getting lunch to one of the assistants, we'll talk about it there; I'll fill you in on everything, provided, however-" Yumi says as she nearly moves her hand to try and do something with this ability to William, as William braces himself for an impact that doesn't end up happening, as Yumi rubs her brow to get herself to calm down.

"S-Sorry, I stepped out of line thinking that logic would work… L-Look, let's just talk this over-"

"In your room at lunch, right? Got it; anything you'd like me to do to prepare?" William asks, as Yumi thinks it over.

"If one of the assistants to arrive to deliver lunch is my brother, than that might be something we need to worry about." Yumi says to William, as William nods.

"Alright, so can we please get out of this elevator already?"

Almost as if Yumi had flicked a switch online, the elevator shakes and trembles as it begins to move after having been halted; William recoils a bit from the sudden quake, but Yumi uses her hand to keep things stable.

"Sorry; kinetic energy buildup I had to fight against the whole time, even right now as well." Yumi states as she stops the elevator at floor two, as she sighs. "Jean and Jimbo will want you to get set up in your own quarters first, the furthest room from this elevator to the left; my quarters are literally merely a floor above yours." Yumi explains to William, as the doors open as William gets out.

"Just do be careful with those outbursts next time, Yumi." William tells her, trying his best to act perfectly normal as possible as he waves Yumi farewell for now, as Yumi proceeds to head to floor three as planned. William looks around at the floor as he begins to have a headache over the sudden introduction to Yumi in such a fashion; all of those stories he had heard from Stern's father and they were all apparently true.

William could only imagine if all of the  _other_  stories also happened to be true or not as well.

* * *

As William begins unpacking various boxes and bags in his new room to prepare for what would be up ahead, William contemplates to himself as to whether or not he'll even be actually prepared; Yumi's indeed a psychic from everything he has observed, and even having the back injury to prove it. No woman of Yumi's small size or stature could  _ever_  inflict such an injury on William in such a small space, let alone with how strong William is, under normal circumstances.

' _Do Jean and Jimbo know of Yumi's abilities? Then again, probably not; they only would've known her for a single day now; they're known me for years.'_  William thinks to himself, as he unpacks a laptop and sets it on a desk facing a window in the room; only a single window and a small amount of room to work with in this dorm-like living arrangement.

"Oh boy, William; what did you get yourself into on this new job? I did not sign up for supernatural stuff like this…" William speaks to himself, as he takes out his cellphone with a USB cable to plug it into his laptop for it to charge, after having plugged in the laptop itself into the nearest outlet.

Thinking about it more, he recalls what he had seen from Jérémie on the monitor; he looked no older than 18, perhaps even being younger than that such as 16, or perhaps even younger. William couldn't tell how old Jérémie was, but one thing is for certain.

William did not sign up for the supernatural stuff; he did, however, sign up for the capability to protect those of his junior who are in need of help. Jérémie is a special needs kid as far as he's been able to determine, so perhaps William needs to talk with him first above anyone else.

A knock on the door catches William off guard, however, as William sighs as he stands up and opens the door to answer it; the 18 year old known as Odd from earlier today is at the door, as Odd looks with uncertainty up towards William.

"Um… Hello… My name is Odd Della Robbia, I've been told to meet you ahead of your shift begins." Odd speaks to William, as William raises an eye, before closing his eyes and sighing.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry about jumping at the accusations earlier towards Jim, it's just-"

"First, I'm not a kid, I'm an adult; second… you're right to be concerned, but I don't mean any harm at all with my antics." Odd tells William, as Odd looks both ways as he seems rather frightened by William's tall stature. William notices this, as he kneels to Odd's level in terms of height.

"Odd, just do me a favor and relax; you being all timid over someone you barely know isn't going to make things any better." William tells Odd, as Odd slowly nods as he looks concerned.

"A-Alright, just, er, go easy on Ulrich will you? I know his father's a… well, for lack of a better term, a-"

"Hold on; why should I be concerned with a kid I probably don't even know? What's his last name by any chance?"

"Stern."

"That explains that, then." William stops himself as to give himself some room to breathe. "Okay, so Ulrich is someone to go easy on just like how Yumi says to go easy on Jérémie. Any advice you can give me for anyone else?" William asks, as Odd looks at him with a serious, but still concerned, glance.

"Look, I don't know who has been telling you anything about Einstein or what he does, but regardless of whether or not it is true, I want you to just pretend you have no idea what's going on with him; he gets scared  _easily_  when he thinks you know what's going on in his head." Odd tells William, as William nods as he rubs his temples to calm himself down.

"Also, one last word of advice I can give you; don't go out late at night around early in the morning. Animal control has been frequently called to the forest outside for a long while, but…" Odd says, as William's eyes widen. Did this have anything to do with that oddity he saw on the camera?

"Let's just say none of the student body is convinced that what's roaming the forest is a normal animal in the slightest." Odd says, as William nods.

"I'll keep that in mind; now can you head off now as I have some unpacking I still need to finish, alright?" William asks, as Odd salutes.

"Yes sir." Odd says, as he moves to leave for elsewhere. William, however, takes the time to contemplate what Odd was saying about the strange creature he saw on the security footage; animal control had been apparently called to Kadic for a good while now, and yet something bugs William about what Odd had said.

What exactly is convincing the  _whole_  student body that it's probably some kind of monster?

* * *

After unpacking what he was given and what little he had brought with him, William heads out to the third floor as he goes to check on Yumi; lunch is prominent as many of the classes had dismissed their students, but right now students were not allowed into their dorms until the afternoon hits. William knocks on the door to Yumi's dorm as he waits for an answer; eventually he gets an answer from Yumi, who opens the door without being near it with a telekinetic grasp.

"You're late, but I can understand why." Yumi tells William, as William nervously chuckles as he moves into Yumi's dorm, as Yumi shuts the door behind him. William looks around and notices a lot of Japanese décor in Yumi's room, as well as an odd scent filled the air of the room; a fragrant, fruity smell is present, as William focuses his attention on Yumi.

"Alright, so you'd like to continue our talk from earlier in a more private setting, I can understand that." William says, as he looks at Yumi seriously; Yumi nods as she looks at William with concern.

"How is your back feeling?" Yumi asks, as William shrugs.

"Still a sore pain in the end, but nothing I can't withstand with my sturdy build." William tells her, as Yumi sighs in relief.

"Thank goodness, I honestly thought I broke something…" Yumi says to William, as William nervously chuckles.

"It's fine; nothing is broken. You, well, you still need to be careful with this power of yours." William says, as Yumi nods.

"As if I hadn't been trying, to say the least; I've sometimes taken my frustration out on inanimate objects every now and then, usually in an abandoned lot further into the forest. Problem is it hasn't exactly been safe going there anymore, and when I saw you coming into Kadic from there you had just barely avoided getting telekinetically vaporized on the spot had you turned out to be what I thought you were." Yumi says, as William's eyes widen, before he becomes serious.

"Let me guess, this monster that Odd is saying the whole student body is worried about?"

"Precisely; animal control had been called time and time again, but they could never identify the creature lurking in the forest outside of Kadic Academy, nor what one of them is apparently… speaking, out towards Jérémie in hopes of getting his attention." Yumi says, as William nods.

"Which explains why he's been going out so late at night." William says, as Yumi nods.

"Precisely; I can actually hear a conversation going on in his mind, and I've had suspicions to believe that bizarre creatures are appearing in the forest as a means of keeping me out of the situation." Yumi says, as William nods.

"Would only seem natural; I'm surprised it never addressed you directly with its own telekinesis. Though, that does remind me… where did this whole telekinesis thing… 'begin'?" William asks the big question, as Yumi looks out of the window, as she looks and sees the lower floors and outside area are empty.

"William; I am about to entrust you with information that only a few select students know about; I need you to absolutely promise me that this won't be spoken of lightly around the public at large. Understood?" Yumi asks, as William nods.

"I promise; if this is a big deal, I can afford to keep secrets; but I'm not going to allow this to happen if it threatens all of the school at large." William says, as Yumi looks shocked.

"William, think about this; even if there is a big threat to the public, we do not want people reacting in mass hysteria as much as possible; that will only make things worse, have people make rash decisions, and just overall make solving the problem all of the more difficult." Yumi says, as she asks again, "Do you promise you'll keep this secret, please?" Yumi asks.

William lets out a heavy sigh as he takes this in; he didn't sign up for this, but innocents could be hurt at any moment, and he does want to know why Yumi has this telekinetic power to begin with, and why it apparently is a big deal for her to keep the origins of such a secret. William focuses his gaze on Yumi as he gives her a reassuring nod.

"I promise you, Yumi. I won't spill a word on any of this." William tells Yumi, as Yumi takes a moment to process William's words; closing her eyes as she focuses on William, it isn't hard for William to notice that Yumi is scanning his whole mind, not only to see if he's legitimate with his promise, but whether he could even be trusted at all. Yumi eventually reopens her eyes as she gazes at William.

"Alright." Yumi says, as she moves to stand and head out the door as she opens it and heads outside into the hall.

"Follow me; you'll only be able to believe these answers if you see it for yourself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Yumi's telekinesis is actually something lifted directly from Garage Kids here; it's a power she had in the real world in the original pilot. Speaking of which, that's actually going to be serving a lot in the basis for the supercomputer in this story; it won't be the iconic factory for obvious reasons, but due to the fact the Hermitage is an equally iconic location; it's actually going to be not remotely far away on a surface level from the Hermitage; it's going to be mostly underground just like the actual supercomputer was.


	4. Chapter 3: Chase Sequence Initiative

On the way outside, William ends up being the first to reach the gate; Yumi had informed him that she was picking up some friends to join her, stating the trip would be too dangerous to travel in such a small group. William normally wouldn't object to this kind of thing at all.

Except the problem with that lies with the fact, as William stands beside the entrance from which he had entered Kadic Academy's grounds on, he could hear something typing away on the entrance terminal.

Something with razor sharp nails that caused a screaking sound to be made when its "fingers" touch the terminal's keypad.

William takes a few steps back as he faces the terminal's entrance, and upon the gate successfully being opened, revealing itself in the noon sunlight is a pale skinned, near 8 foot tall humanoid with bird-like feet, what appeared to be a ten digit left hand and a five digit right hand, the latter of which in the form of a massive blade, and a shell for a head which had two gaping holes for "eyes"; the insides of which one can see teeth forming from within.

"Holy-"

William didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence, as within a few seconds flat, space warps around the creature's body as an immense, telekinetic grab leashes itself upon the humanoid entity, all the while the creature lets out a low, pained moan as it suddenly atomizes on the spot from the telekinesis ripping its very body from the cellular level apart, piece by piece.

"S-She wasn't joking about the whole vaporize on the spot bit… the fact it even tried to get through the door somehow knowing the passcode, though…" William says in utter shock and horror as to what he had just witnessed, as Yumi walks up from behind him as Yumi doesn't make too much of a big deal of it.

"That specific creature is what Odd has nicknamed 'Freak'; we don't have any actual names for these beings, but whatever Odd comes up with we just tend to stick with due to lack of a better name." Yumi details to William, as William looks at Yumi with a raised eye.

"… 'We'? Who else, aside from Odd that is, is involved with this little group?" William asks, as Yumi looks towards the open door and walks through outside of the academy grounds. William follows her as Yumi finally speaks up once the door shuts behind them.

"Ulrich and Odd have been through this the least amount of time as myself, and Jérémie actually isn't involved… yet, anyways; the creatures seem to want to attract his attention to the point we might be forced to take action." Yumi tells William as she walks through the forest with him, as William nods.

"So, what exactly am I getting myself into and why are you so willing to let me in on this?" William asks, as Yumi stops in place once it becomes evident nobody else are nearby.

"We're dealing with a life-form that has some kind of vendetta against humankind, and it's not alone; it's being controlled by someone who has it out against Jean due to events we currently have no clue as to what had happened." Yumi tells William, as William awkwardly lets out a whistle as his rolls his eyes.

"So the point is…?" William asks, as Yumi sighs.

"Somebody wants Jean dead, and my telekinesis won't let me scan his mind for clues if there is no lead in information I have prior. Combine that with Freak's appearance over the past few days, as well as another monster that resists my telekinesis to the point I can't overpower it, and folks like Odd, Ulrich, and myself could use a powerhouse like yourself." Yumi states, as she picks up a pulse of something heading in their direction, moving at a high speed.

"So might I ask what exactly this other creature is that you need a physically capable guy like me for?"

The timing was almost too perfect; within seconds, William finds himself telekinetically grabbed by Yumi and pulled out of the way as a creature, on all fours with a human-like face and a massive mouth disguised as a "neck" by its mane, moves to stop in its tracks after having missed its charge against William.

Slowly turning its head around to gaze at William with its disturbingly human-like face but sliming greenish black scaled skin, William looks at the creature with a sense of disgust and horror as Yumi moves to position herself out of the creature's reach.

"O-Okay Yumi, any insight here?!" William asks in a panic, as Yumi nods.

"Analysis identifies as 'Stalka', Phase 1 artificial life-form designed for ramming opponents and negating telekinesis; physical attacks on its mouth will suffice to destroy it." Yumi spouts out in an uncharacteristic, practically a robotic monotone voice, as William raises an eye and doesn't question it right now, all the while the creature, named Stalka, prepares to charge William again.

"Not so fast you're not!" William says as he holds his arms out wide and braces his hands to grasp at Stalka, as Stalka charges directly into William as the tall Scottish man grapples Stalka's head by its mane as Stalka's reinforced skull leaves a tremendous amount of pain in William's chest upon impact.

Stalka, taken by surprise, opens its mouth as its whole neck reveals itself to be a giant gaping maw, all the while a glowing light can be seen inside of its mouth at the deepest part. William, grabbing onto Stalka's tongue, dismisses his thoughts on the disgust of this creature as he yanks at the tongue to try and pull it out by force; Stalka's mouth tries to clamp onto William's arm to try and get him to let go or worse, but William uses his free arm to punch Stalka directly in the eye, causing the horse-like creature to collapses onto the ground with its maul open.

William moves to grab its tongue again with both hands; using his foot to pin down Stalka's head and then forcefully severe Stalka's tongue with raw, powerful strength to the point some of the inside of Stalka's throat comes out with it as well as an extended part of the esophagus. Yumi looks away at the brutality William performed against Stalka, as William stomps onto Stalka's exposed windpipe to suffocate it in case it somehow survived.

"W-W-… W-William, I think you went a little overboard there…" Yumi remarks in horror and disgust, as she sounds like she's about to become very sick at the mere sight of what had happened, as well as Stalka's stench becoming all the more prevalent. William drops the internal organs he had grasped from Stalka by force, as William looks at Yumi.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that." William tells Yumi, as Yumi nods to reassure him.

"I can understand; you don't have any actual weaponry yet so you couldn't help it." Yumi tells him, as she holds in an attempt by her body to vomit, as she takes in a few deep breaths to calm down. "Doesn't make Stalka any less disgusting, though." Yumi adds, as William nods.

"We'd better get moving in case any more of these things try and come after us." William tells her, as Yumi nods.

"Alright, follow me, just give me some quiet to make a few calls to Odd and Ulrich." Yumi says, as William nods, watching her grab out her cellphone as she dials Ulrich first.

"Ulrich? Can you meet me out towards the Hermitage? I know you're not going to like this, but we've recruited somebody new here and we need assistance making sure the close is clear." Yumi speaks into the phone, as an odd mixture of an English accent and a German accent can be heard speaking on the other end.

"Yumi?! What happened? Did Stalka ambush you again?" Ulrich speaks in a rather youthful voice, as Yumi nods.

"Yeah, I'm a little disorientated, but the new recruit handled it just fine surprisingly. Listen, get Odd and Keiko stationed in case Garuda tries sending any other monsters, heaven forbid Tripod of them being next."

"Roger that, Yumi; just focus on getting to the Hermitage as quickly as you can, just, well, be careful about it, please." Ulrich tells Yumi, as Yumi nods.

"A-Alright, I'll see you guys there." Yumi says as she hangs up, as William raises an eye.

"Keiko? Somebody else I need to know?" William asks, as Yumi shakes her head.

"Transfer student from Japan; that's literally all I'm allowed to tell you about her unless she speaks for herself." Yumi tells William, as she musters the strength to regain her senses as she runs towards the game trail in the forest as William quickly runs after her.

* * *

A new sound can be heard as wingbeats akin to an avian but moving at the speed of an insect's wings can be heard, as something large is moving around the air, with more just like it nearby. William takes notice of the flying entities, noticing their eel-like bodies with three avian wings and incredibly large, razor sharp chins akin to sword blades.

"William get down!" Yumi says as she ducks after one of the flying creatures attempts to go after her, just as William likewise ducks and slides as another creature just barely missed him.

"Such speed! Can you take care of em?" William asks Yumi as he gets back up, unaware of a third creature heading his way, only for it to be shot out of the sky by an unknown ally. William looks to the sound of what seemed to be a gunshot, as William sees Odd with some kind of custom built knuckle gauntlets on his hands that can fire bullet s from them. Odd, seeing the other two creatures making a turn around, jumps into the air without facing either of the two as he fires two shots, one from each hand respectively, and takes both of the flying creatures out.

"Nice to have you on the team, William, just need to get you to Lyoko to see what kind of weapon suits your style." Odd says, as he reloads his knuckle mounted shooters, as Yumi heads back to running towards what could vaguely be seen out as an abandoned building in the middle of the forest; William follows Yumi once he realizes he's not in a position to ask questions right now, especially with hostiles making it clear that it'll just waste time.

Odd follows William and Yumi as well, practically running on all fours due to how horizontal his spine is to the ground as he runs. Odd's speed allows him to reach the Hermitage building first, as Odd opens the door first after quickly punching in the passcode for it, as Yumi and William gasp in shock and horror as Odd doesn't realize until just a moment afterwards that another Freak is waiting behind the door, letting out a low, human-like moan of a roar.

"Out of my way!" Yumi says as she telekinetically grasps with her own hand out to Freak, before causing its whole head to explode apart as Odd shoots a few bullets into Freak's chest to verify the kill. Odd and Yumi brush the body to the side as they walk into the building, as William enters inside and locks the door behind him, with Yumi and Odd barricading the door as much as they can.

Heavily breathing as all three collapse against the door, William notices everything seems to have quieted down after the intensity of what was happening in such a short amount of time; he wasn't expecting he would get involved into so many encounters with creatures that were artificially made, yet alone deal with a psychic Japanese woman and Odd's wrist mounted-

"Wait a sec, Odd, are those… actually built into your very hands themselves…?" William asks upon realizing his own error; they weren't wrist mounted attachments, but instead Odd's own hands transformed to reveal cybernetic components as Odd transforms his hands back into their seamlessly organic appearance they have by default.

"Okay now you have every reason not to tell anyone a word about what's going on, William." Odd tells William, as William looks at Yumi, concerned over the implications of Odd's hands; Yumi gives him a solemn nod with her eyes closed, as William softens his expression as he moves to stand and look around the building.

"Okay, so lemme see if I got this; crazy scientist and his AI creation conjure up monsters that attack the real world and some can even manage to invade human settlements by knowing how to open door terminals, and then you guys are part of an underground agency trying to fight against this crazy, sick fuck of a man who is trying to more or less cause a war if the general public gets alarmed by this? Did I miss anything?" William states, then asks about what he had just said was true or not.

Yumi and Odd both nod to him, as William lets out an exasperated groan of annoyance.

"Typical; first day on the job as chief of security at Kadic, and already I'm being drafted into a conflict far beyond my own power and abilities. What next do you guys have some kind of underground lab or something?!" William says as he moves to punch the nearest wall, revealing a pressure plate in the wall which activates and reveals a trap door in the floor of the room, as William looks upon it with interest as Odd and Yumi both head down to the unknown floors below, with Yumi gesturing for William to follow.

"Give me one good reason why I should-" William coldly tries to remark, but unfortunately a good reason presents itself with multiple Freaks just outside, with the door slowly opening as one of the Freaks moves its giant, bludgeoning hand inside as William quickly realizes he has no other choice and quickly bolts down the trap door with the others, as the trap door seals itself completely as the Freaks enter the room; William literally just underneath the floor.

' _What do these things want? Why are they here?'_  William thinks to himself in hopes Yumi will answer him.

" **Creep… creep… reap…"**

Not words but, rather, sounds of words, can be heard coming from one of the Freaks upstairs in a garbled voice of sorts.

" **Creep… reap… seep.."**

' _Any translation if possible?'_  William asks Yumi, or, at least tries to.

' _They're losing interest; they can't determine the trap door's existence.'_  Yumi tells William telepathically.

"Keep heading down here, they'll lose interest if they can't see any of us." Odd whispers up to William, as Odd works his way down the ladder in the hidden passageway, as does Yumi as well; William follows suit, knowing full well that while he could handle Stalka, he most certainly couldn't see himself taking on Freak, let alone multiple of them.

* * *

As the trio head down into what appears to be some kind of dark, dimly lit cavern of sorts, Odd and Yumi get down as they can give William room to get down and onto the cavern's ground as well. Despite the way the inside of it looks, part of it has an artificial feel from what William can judge; nothing about it seemed natural, no cave based organisms living here, and plenty of oxygen in the air, borderline surface level at that.

"What is this place?" William asks, as Yumi and Odd lead the way down a path that has a glowing light in a downward direction, as William quickly realizes he's being left behind and moves to catch up with Yumi and Odd. Hearing someone move frantically behind him, however, catches William by surprise as he moves to turn around and grasp hold of whatever tried to sneak up behind him, all the while Yumi and Odd look back in shock as the person William grabs hold of yells out.

"William! Calm down! That's Ulrich, he's with us!" Yumi tells William as William snaps out of his immediate reaction and calms down; letting Ulrich go by setting him down as Ulrich looks at William completely stunned silent; William had him in a death hold and could've easily had Ulrich dead in a small moment, but the others just barely saved his hide from William almost committing accidental murder.

"S-Sorry… I was reckless to just run ahead expecting you to quickly adjust… Already having the PTSD, eh? Been stuck with that for the first month of being a part of this group." Ulrich tells William in a spastic fit, as William looks at Yumi with concern.

"Um, no actual mental disorder inherently, but he does suffer from PTSD a lot due to having been involved in the more nastier fights…" Yumi tells William, as Ulrich scoffs in regards to her comment.

"It's not PTSD! I swear what is it with you thinking I'm so hopeless in this situation?!" Ulrich tells Yumi off, as Yumi simply gives Ulrich a glare as she moves to head down to the lower floors, as Odd walks up to William and Ulrich to take the situation into his own hands.

"Look you two, what I need from both of you is to man up and take responsibility here; you're both adults, but you're different ages I can tell. Just take a while to relax while we go meet up with Keiko and we'll have you back at Kadic in no time, alright?" Odd says to William, as he gives Ulrich a pat on the shoulder to calm him down as well. William and Ulrich both nod in reassurance, as they proceed to head down to the lower floor with Yumi up ahead.

* * *

_**Meanwhile…** _

* * *

"So, maintenance is today, yes?" A crewman asks as he unloads a case of supplies he needs to fix something up, much, much further away from the others; a laboratory in the middle of nowhere, as the scientist looking at the crewman nods.

"Yes, very well; you will be required to assist us with repairs on storage unit 0 at the bottom most floor the facility. We have a very special, very dangerous artifact in storage that we need to keep secured and safe from harming others outside." The scientist tells the man, as the crewman nods.

"Roger that, boss." The crewman says as he and his fellow workers proceed to head inside, as the scientist follows them inside.

Just outside, a rift in space opens from out of their range. Something with metallic, razor sharp, but also incredibly rusted claws begins to tear its way out of the area unknown to this location. However, its grasp within the fabric of space weakens as it slips back into its own realm.

" _ **J-Jérémie…"**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Odd has cybernetic hands due to an accident that predates this fic; they didn't give him the hands out of choice, but rather a necessity as Odd would've died from blood lose otherwise. Odd's hands replicate his Lyoko form's hands which can utilize the laser arrowheads that he can fire to damage enemies with. He is not, however, the only member of the group to have such a modification on them, but all of the group have differing reasons as to why they have their modifications over others; even Yumi's telekinesis is the result of yet another modification here.


	5. Chapter 4: Dark Knight

_The crewmen get ready to work on the maintenance they have to perform; inside of the laboratory are creatures much like Freak, Stalka, and even the flying ones so far. Some of the creatures inside vary from tiny humanoids, to very tall giants with stumps for feet._

_And then there's the screaming, obnoxiously loud, but also completely horrifying noise being made in the room furthest below all of the others in complete isolation; the sounds of something incredibly massive, incredibly angry, and incredibly powerful can be heard and felt as various attempts to crash into the foundation of its pen cause the entire facility to shake and tremble._

_"Sir, have the maintenance crew arrived?" A female scientist is heard speaking towards the man in charge, as he gives her a nod._

_"Yes, Mrs. Schaeffer; everyone is ready to carry out the containment procedures on artificial life-form 0. All according to schedule, just 0 is getting far more violent than normal for some reason…" The man speaks up, as the crewmen attach giant pipes to the sides of the cell, a good 50 meters in dimensions cell, and begin pumping in some kind of chemical into the cell, as inside the outrage, tremendous roars of some kind of kaiju-esque monstrosity are heard echoing across the whole facility, as they soon rapidly die down in intensity as the creature inside becomes incredibly weakened._

_The man simply looks at the cell in amusement, "GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine gases and liquids being poured into the containment cell to sedate the creature. Always a chance to have everything relax after a while." The man states, as Mrs. Schaeffer looks horrified._

_"But won't that kill it, Mr. Kayabe?" She asks, to which the man shakes his head no._

_"Unfortunately, if it could have killed it, the drugs would've done so long ago." Mr. Kayabe states, as he looks upon the cell with an amazed, yet emotionless stare; the creature inside slams its giant head against the wall, its left side facing out towards Kayabe; something changes his expression from neutrality to incredible concern and horror._

_"Madam… since when did the subject lose its left eye?"_

* * *

As Yumi, William, Odd, and Ulrich head down to the lower floors of the unusual basement of the Hermitage building, Yumi jumps down to a lower platform and into a much larger room, which as William sees once he enters as well, contains a massive, mangrove-like tangle of cables and cords attached to the ceiling and the floor of the room. Odd gives William a pat on the back to reassure him about what he's seeing, as William sighs as he follows Yumi down the platforms towards the bottommost floor.

"So… who's the madman behind this place in particular then?" William asks, as he steps onto the floor and notices just how tall the room actually is from the very bottom. Ulrich and Odd jump down as well as Yumi walks over towards a series of five computer monitors and a large, metallic chair and someone fast asleep in it.

"Keiko, it's time to wake up; Garuda's attacking faster than we anticipated once it became clear of our new recruit, William. William, if you'd please introduce yourself…" Yumi prompts William, as she turns around the chair from which a girl in a heavy sweater and jeans was sitting in, looking completely sloshed with her expression, as William is quick to notice the beer cans littering the room.

"Sooo… Keiko, is it? My name is William Dunbar the Third. I hope you're actually sober because we were all attacked by monsters just before we had arrived safe and sound." William says, as Keiko groans a bit as she sleepily puts on some glasses and has a look at William.

"All, right; giant Scottish dude as a new recruit, got it. No wonder Garuda materialized three Tripods not too long ago."

"THREE?!" Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich yelp in shock, as William lets out a sharp whistle which catches everyone off guard, even stirring Keiko into a more sober state.

"Alright now let's drop the pretense and before we even so much as focus on some Garuda entity, I'd like some answers as to what is going on, where this place is, who are all of you guys, and in general what exactly is this Garuda nutcase's beef with me!" William begins yelling out his demands in an angered tone.

"Ya know, we could just use the ole' reset and pretend none of this ever happened…" Keiko said, as she stops to think before chuckling, before letting out a sneeze. "Actually, there's problems with even that, since we can't reset Garuda's spawns with the ole' reversion trick anyways. At this rate, we'll need William with us to fight back against Garuda, but first I get it; you want answers as to what Garuda even is to begin with, correct?" Keiko says, as William has an expression so unimpressed with her behavior that he doesn't even need to say for her to get on with it.

"Very well, dobber, I'll respect your desire to want to know and enlighten you. X.T.C.! Begin video and audio feed of the currently available databases!" Keiko says as William's eyes scrunch up in annoyance.

"Excuse me-"

[AS YOU COMMAND, OFFICER!]

Suddenly the computer monitors move to surround William as they float in midair as William is taken aback by what's beginning to be displayed. On the screens display various, unusual locations, all of which involve the terrain floating above a gigantic, endless void of an ocean below, as on sector appears to be a desert, another a glacier coated tundra, a giant forest with massive trees, and a very tall region with sparse amounts of land but many, many mountain peaks present.

"So, this is Lyoko as you'll see; I'd show you the core area, but I'm honestly not sure I can trust you just yet here." Keiko tells William, as William raises an eye at the heavily dressed, tiny redhead.

"And that's a problem why? Your friends are the reason I'm here to begin with." William states, as Keiko shoots Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd a glare as the latter three all flinch in shock as to see Keiko angry with them.

"Boooys! You knew better than to just bring… uh… er…"

"William Dunbar the Third, ma'am." William points out to Keiko, as Keiko blinks.

"William Dunbar? As in, that crazy William Dunbar the First who successfully killed a Levyiafin with his bare hands alone?!" Keiko asks, as William again raises an eye.

"First, you mean Leviathan, second, that story actually happened?!" William as Keiko, as Keiko growls.

"First is wrong because it's indeed spelled Levyiafin; check the monitor, dumbass." Keiko tells him off as a card is pulled on the fifth monitor, showing a large, whale-like monster with clawed fins used as giant wings across the body, and no tailfin but and having a crocodile's head but no eyes.

"Levyiafin, Phase 3 Garuda Monster, Assault Form type. Once its wings are destroyed, the main body becomes helpless, alright I get it; so does this terrorist guy like to think of everything as a giant video game or something?" William asks, as Keiko looks stunned.

"Um… who told you about the terrorist? I haven't confirmed that with any of the boys yet and already someone told you about that? Okay, first thing on the to do list is that you're still new here, and you need to be sent into Lyoko to acquire your ability and your weapon." Keiko tells William as she begins lazily punching away at keys on her keyboard, as William looks back at the others, noticing they appear too stunned to talk right now; Ulrich notices Yumi and Odd both frozen due to Keiko's "authority", so decides to approach William first.

"Look, William, as Keiko prepares the virtualization process, lemme give you the most simple explanation in the form of a question; what exactly are your various physical feats aside from being able to lift the 200 kilogram Jim over your shoulder with ease?" Ulrich asks, as William seems to understand where he's coming from with this approach.

"Well, to put it bluntly, I have an impressive amount of stamina as I can carry loads of around 100-150 kilograms of metal and other materials with just a single hand without breaking a sweat, prior to working at Kadic my first job was as a construction worker in which I repeatedly took overtime as to both give myself physical training and earn extra payment for getting the job done as best as I can during the day."

"Longest amount of time you've been lifting these materials without any breaks for food or drinks?" Ulrich asks another question, as William's expression calms as he seems to getting the idea with what Ulrich is asking; Odd and Yumi sigh in relief as Ulrich manages to successfully try and give William the details.

"6-8 hours, my only downfall in my strength comes from the sluggish pace I tend to move because of what I've trained myself for."

"Now then, you're probably familiar with general tactician when it comes to combat considering how absurdly strong you are for a mere construction worker, correct?" Ulrich asks, to which Keiko can be heard furiously typing away at something on her keyboard, as Yumi and Odd go to deal with her frustrated mood and gesture for Ulrich to keep talking with William.

"Never underestimate those who are small, but at the same time always put higher focus on the bigger guy in the room?"

"Precisely." Ulrich tells William, as William nods.

"So I think I get what you're trying to tell me with these questions. When Garuda and the guy controlling him see you guys, they think of you as smaller entities who contrast with a much more physically strong guy like myself, and thus Garuda feels rather threatened by my presence because of my physical strength and stamina, noting I will be a very dangerous opponent to him?" William asks Ulrich, as Ulrich nods as he gives William a thumbs up.

"Precisely; Garuda attacked all of us today in hopes he could kill you just so we'd never have the chance to properly recruit you. Even if we let you leave right now, Garuda won't stop going after you since he acknowledges you as a threat because you still desire to do the right thing and protect the others at Kadic." Ulrich tells William, as William nods as well, giving his own thumbs up in return.

"Gotcha; I'm the new chief of security at Kadic by the way, so naturally it's official now that Garuda is now my enemy just like he is your enemy as well." William tells Ulrich, as Ulrich gives a small, welcoming smile as he offers William to shake his hand, as William accepts and grasps his hand with his own; Ulrich recoiling a bit at William's surprisingly strong grip.

"Jeeze, easy on the strength there Liam."

"Hehe, s-sorry!" William says to Ulrich as they both let go, as Keiko lets out an incredibly frustrated, drunken growl of annoyance as William and Ulrich turn to face her direction.

"Garuda you jury rigging CHEATER! Why do you have the activated tower guarded by not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR Tripods?!" Keiko yells in frustration, as she shows everyone the monitor of the mountain sector and four, massively built cuttlefish-like giants with cone-like shells supported by three massive arms above the ground stationed around a much taller tower with a glowing red aura around it. The tower looks uncannily similar to the trees from the forest sector, but at the same time is artificial enough in design to give a weird mish mash of machine and nature.

"So that's the thing causing this mess right now, Garuda, correct?" William asks Keiko to which she slowly begins snickering as Odd busts up laughing in a fit.

"No to the Garuda bit, yes to the fact the activated tower is causing the issue. Good Gods I can't believe you made the exact same mistake Odd did when we had first recruited him." Keiko informs William while still snickering, as Yumi smiles a bit off to the side as William nervously chuckles, before Yumi clears her throat.

"Fact of the matter is, despite having been aware of him and his various monsters, we have no idea who the guy is who controls Garuda right now, nor do we have any clue about what Garuda even looks like." Yumi tells William with concern, as William nods and looks over at Keiko.

"Alright, so you're wanting to send me to Lyoko and help deactivate this tower, correct? Very well, what's the first thing to do?" William asks, as a door within the massive tree of cables opens up and reveals a glowing yellow chamber inside, as another chamber reveals itself as well, with Yumi stepping inside.

"Simple, you sexy idiot; step inside of the supercomputer's scanner, and you'll be put through a process called virtualization that'll send you to Lyoko for the first time." Keiko tells William, as William nods, as he moves to step into the other scanner open, before turning around and facing the outside as the doors shut on both him and Yumi's scanners.

"Alright, now what about the weapon?" William asks, as Keiko sighs.

"That I wish I could control, but for the moment once you're onto Lyoko, the supercomputer will generate a form of you forged from VNA in which you'll gain whatever abilities and weaponry based on the hidden aspects of your personality and mind." Keiko tells William, as she begins to boot up the virtualization process.

"Sounds simple enough, I'm ready." William tells Keiko.

"I'm ready if he is, let's go stop Garuda again." Yumi speaks up, as Keiko nods and presses the Enter key on her keyboard as both Yumi and William begin to be levitated within their scanner pods as they are rotated by an unknown force from within them.

"Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, William."

William and Yumi both close their eyes as an odd sensation hits the two of them, as William can feel himself beginning to burn up slightly. Odd and Ulrich look on as everything is happening, only to hear a loud crashing noise heard up above as Odd and Ulrich look at each other and nod.

"Sounds like Garuda's getting impatient and sent a Tripod after us."

"Or maybe the elephant in the room wants a piece of the action as well."

"Don't jinx it, guys! Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, William." Keiko tells the two of them off before continuing, and just needs to press one last key right now, before looking at Ulrich and Odd "Well, go after what's on the upper floors already! Secure the perimeter around the Hermitage!"

"Roger that, ma'am!" Ulrich says as he moves off in a blur of speed, as Odd jumps onto the cables and twirls himself towards the exit like some kind of primate, as Keiko sighs and presses the key in question.

"Virtualization!" Keiko calls out, as William and Yumi can feel a surge of energy overflow in their bodies, as the virtualization process is nearly finished.

* * *

William can feel himself slowly cool down after the unusual burning he had felt, as Yumi is the first to materialize in the mountain sector, appearing in the form of a geisha with a form fitting spandex suit and unusual gemstones on her forehead that brighten up as Yumi activates her telekinesis. William virtualizes right beside her, as his body becomes coated in a similarly designed spandex suit, but even though it's also form fitting, it has more layers to it akin to armor capable of blocking bullets due to how thick it is, as William materializes before Yumi's gaze as William, out of sheer instinct, pulls out a massively sized two-handed sword from behind his back, as William looks upon the blade with shock.

"Woah. Dad was right about me looking good with a sword, but I didn't expect one of such caliber here." William says, as Yumi giggles.

"I think you'll need to try not to overdo yourself here, alright? We've got work to do after all." Yumi tells him, before she stops in place when she feels movement with her mind somewhere nearby, pulling out two fan-like weapons to her side as she looks ahead and scouts what appears from behind a rock.

A rather widely built, quadrupedal entity with single joint legs, a white upper body and black lower body, and having an unusual eye marking on its face as its whole body appears to be a synchronization of machine and organic features alike. William is about to move forward to attack when the monster looks in their direction, but Yumi gestures to William to stop and observe.

The four legged monster glances at William, letting out a bird-like hiss of confusion, before moving to walk off to another part of the sector altogether. William is dumbfounded by the fact the monster didn't attack them at all.

' _Woah… if I had actually attacked that thing it looks like it would've been able to maul us easily if it survived the attack.'_  William thinks to himself, as he looks at Yumi, "Explanation on what I just saw?" He asks her.

"That's what we've identified as a Tarantula as Odd calls it, and it's not one of Garuda's monsters, but rather a monster created by a native AI to Lyoko called X.A.N.A.. Only one rule and one rule alone with it; do not attack its monsters, and it won't attack us back." Yumi tells William, as William nods.

"Right, and lemme guess, keep an eye out if they have that insignia on them as well, correct?" William asks as he sheathes his sword, as Yumi nods.

"Correct, now let's get going." Yumi says as she walks forward from where she had materialized onto Lyoko before moving to sprint, as William moves to follow after her in a full jog; even at a full jog, William wasn't kidding about what he told Ulrich, as Yumi merely sprinting is all that she needs to do to stay faster than him with minimal effort.

Lagging behind Yumi as he tries to keep up, he hears a rather uncanny bark as he hears a searing hot liquid rush up from behind him, leaping off the ground as William moves out of the way, seeing the liquid metal take the form of a  _Velociraptor_ -like dinosaur before jumping back into the ground as a mere puddle. William moves to grab his sword as he anticipates the attack.

Yumi stops further ahead once she realizes William is lagging behind her due to his slower speed, as she notices she put quite a distance between herself and William.

"Careful now; analysis has identified those buggers in the past as Liquiraptors, Phase 1, Agility Form Type. Be careful with touching them directly, but other than that, they're harmless." Yumi tells William over a telekinetic link with him, as she hears stomping sounds coming from the distance towards her.

"Copy that; just slice and dice." William says as he readies his sword as the surge of liquid metal rushes him point blank, as it moves to jump out at him in its raptor form again, as William moves to cut away at it and slice it in two, only for the liquid metal to end up crashing against him and him letting out a grunt of pain as the searing hot liquid touches him, before removing itself from William and reforming into its raptor form in place, noticeably missing an arm now.

"Focus; don't let their moments of weakness catch you off guard, Odd has had that happen to him too many times to cou-" Yumi stops herself as the stomping sounds get louder and louder in approaching her, as Yumi looks the other way and sees a  _Tyrannosaurus_ -like creature with diamond protrusions coming out of almost every portion of its body.

"Diatrex, Phase 3 Tank Form type. I've got this one!" Yumi states as she jumps up into the air just before the Diatrex could lunge at her with jaws wide open, as Yumi unfolds her fans and throws them in a curve to impact into the Diatrex's small, unarmored eyes, causing the whole body to detonate into data particles upon its eyes being destroyed. Yumi jumps back to the ground as she grabs her fans, as William concentrates on the circling Liquiraptor, anticipating its next move; the Liquiraptor lunges, as William opens his eyes to focus on it.

Time moves at a snail's pace in William's perspective all of a sudden; William moves to hack and slash away at the Liquiraptor's body, before exposing an energy core in the center of it and impaling it with his sword, as time's flow reverts back to normal around him as the Liquiraptor disintegrates and its core crumbling to mere pieces in the aftermath, as William lets out a whistle as he admires his blade's clean polish.

"Wow… not bad for a first time KO with these guys, right?" William asks Yumi as he sheathes his sword and heads towards her, as Yumi nods.

"Yes, not a bad job at all-"

A loud, piercing screech can be heard piercing the air; Yumi recognizes it first as Keiko observing from the real world has her interest piqued all of a sudden.

"Unknown anomaly detected; trying to analyze right now." Keiko says, before moving to take a sip from an open can of beer as she chugs for a while, before focusing back on the scan results as her eyes widen and nearly spitting out her drink at that as she chokes on it for a moment.

"WHAT?! What is it this time?! I can't even tell what this new thing is let alone track any of the Tripods anymore."

"Uh, Keiko, about that…" Yumi tries to bring up as her eyes widen as she sees in the distance something going on at the activated tower, as William's eyes widen as he also sees what appears to be a rather tiny, glowing pink spectral energy being appear and simply drill itself through the four Tripods guarding the tower and tearing them completely inside out before their remains fall below the clouds surrounding the mountains. Keiko's eyes widen as her screen comes back up, but with no results on the newcomer in the situation.

"Okay, uh… Ulrich, Odd, status update upstairs while I try and think about what to tell Yumi and William?"

* * *

Upstairs back at the surface, outside of the Hermitage lays the destroyed, eyes punctured, legs severed completely corpse of a Tripod laid to waste by Ulrich and Odd as they're both panting heavily.

"Well it could be worse there could still be a Freak remaining." Odd says, as Ulrich pants as well.

"Odd, do not jinx it, you remember what happened last time, right?!" Ulrich tells Odd as he can already hear Freak's familiar moan nearby.

"Relax, soldier, we killed it last time just like the rest." Odd tells Ulrich, as Odd slowly chuckles before suddenly shutting up as he can hear Freak's moan go from a weak moan to a sudden, vicious and especially loud roar. Odd and Ulrich's eyes widen as they watch and see a remaining Freak still there, as its entire body suddenly emanates a massive glow of light from its core, as Freak's entire shell on its head splits apart and reveals its actual, flower-like jaws underneath.

Freak's entire body slowly begins to become larger, with Freak's toes spreading apart and widening in distance from the other, Freak's left arm going from scrawny to incredibly beefy to its right arm becoming larger and much more serrated in edges like some kind of sawblade, as Freak develops four spikes from its back as an unusual sphere emerges from its back as it suddenly glows in a bright, powerful and intense display of electrical energy, as the same electrical energy begins to surge through Freak's right arm as it lifts it up to prepare to swing.

"Odd! Fire something at it!" Ulrich yells in a state of horror as he gazes upon Freak's ungodly transformation, as Odd jumps up into the trees and prepares to take aim, only to realize as his hands unfolded into their cybernetic forms, that he's already out of ammo from dealing with Tripod prior, as he nervously looks down at Freak roaring in intense aggression.

"Ulrich! What are you doing?! Get out of the way!" Odd calls for Ulrich, as Ulrich snaps out of his gaze against the much more horrifying Freak as he materializes a katana with his hands out of pure energy, before hastily launching it into Freak's transformed body; the blade shatters upon impact, as Freak slams down onto the ground with its right arm and an electric magnetic pulse hits the entire area for kilometers on end.

* * *

"What's this? Freak underwent some kind of mutation into a Phase 2 Assault Form type! But how…?"

A panel pops up on all of Keiko's screens as her connection to Lyoko is severed altogether, as Yumi's voice can be heard trying to contact Keiko as Keiko's eyes widen in horror as to what she sees appear on the screen next.

"Welcome, Keiko-sama. I honestly thought my message would not get through, but it appears I've established contact just as I wanted; I see you found one of my experiments with your soldiers above; beautiful piece of work using the Ultimate Form's cells to engineer it to such an improved state." A man's voice, whose face and overall features are framed in complete shadow with only an outline visible as to indicate he's there at all, as Keiko picks up the microphone near her with a nasty scowl.

"So is this the mighty terrorist as William called you?"

"Terrorist? Oh yeeeah, I remember that incident in which I slaughtered an entire regional police force back in Japan solely out of spite for their security measure stupidity; honestly they had it coming, really, since their attempts to destroy my very work and career by stealing my research for themselves should've let them known I'm never to be messed with. Those were the glory days… but now I've grown bored, and want to do something new, so I decided to steal something for myself from the Ultimate Form created at Carthage so I could experiment with some of the Garuda AI's war machines; just the type of machines I need to bring the profit I oh so desire…"

Keiko shoots the man a glare, as she grits her teeth with every heinous thing he says in such a casual tone of voice, not even dignifying the men who he claims to have killed or being remotely polite of speaking ill over men that were flat out murdered out of a petty reasoning such as revenge. Keiko wanted to shout and scream every frustration right now to the man, especially since he's also behind the Garuda attacks.

But she finds herself too paralyzed to move or even utter a word, all the while she hears the man tauntingly chuckling as he looks at her from the shadows; bright, polished teeth showing up as a large grin appears in the dark.

"Nothing to say, Keiko? Tell ya what, while you freak out, allow me to introduce myself; call me Megalodon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This chapter ended up being kind of longer than normal primarily because I didn't want it to cut off at the 3K word mark due to how much exposition there was prior and not a whole lot else happening until afterwards. I'm still kind of wishing I could cut the exposition lower, but considering I'm trying to keep things as close to William's perspective alone as possible without going into third person, it's kind of a tad justified since William is new to all of this whereas everyone else but Jérémie isn't.
> 
> Keiko you might remember being the real first name of the character Silica from Sword Art Online; she's here because it's, again, another plot point for SAO Special Edition, considering that fic as mentioned takes place three months later. Keiko is going to appear again in the upcoming update to SAO Special Edition, but right now I'm focusing on writing for Reflection Code due to get irritated with the lack of updates in general for some of my fics.
> 
> Also if the whole idea of Keiko being a booze drinking shut in doesn't make sense, I tend to write things based on whatever music I'm listening to right now, and I've had the Drunk As I Like track from Touhou playing in the background for a good solid hour while writing this chapter, so that's why I decided to characterize her as a bit of a drunkard in this AU.


	6. Chapter 5: The Meg

William looks around as Lyoko suddenly dims in light, as the skies become very dark and dim in overall brightness as if a small, lone bulb was keeping the entire sector lit up. Yumi notices this as way, as she moves to step backwards towards William.

"Any bright ideas as to what's going on now?" William asks Yumi, as Yumi shoots him a bit of a glare whilst a serious expression occupies her face, as William nervously chuckles slowly in response.

"Right… stupid question there, so is Keiko able to hear us at all?" William asks, as William notices that the activated tower is now completely unguarded due to the mysterious pink entity having taken out the four Tripods stationed there. Yumi notices as well, but holds her hand out to keep William still in movement, as William gives her a confused look.

William need not wait any further as the appearance of some kind of specter appears from within the ground out into the open, as its entire body looks like vast amounts of bytes and data restructuring itself at an endless rate, almost like its body was composed of millions of smaller beings despite being the same size as William.

_**"̞͖̩̪̪͈̪͎͚̀͡L̵͇̠̳̯̫̠̭͞ͅe̘͍͉̭̝̩͟͠a͏̗̥͍v҉̰͙͘e͉͈̦.҉̰̱͇̙͓̱̘"̵̢̙̪̤́.** _

William gazes upon the specter, somewhat shaken, but he looks over at Yumi about to ask what it was he just saw, but as quickly as the specter disappears, Yumi only after it vanishes looks over towards him with a confused look.

"… Yes? What are you staring at? I'm trying to contact Keiko with my telepathy." Yumi asks William, as William looks dumbfounded.

"You didn't see that specter just up ahead?" William asks her, to which Yumi looks up ahead and doesn't see anything.

"What specter, William, is this some kind of joke? Right now I'm concerned about Keiko due to all of Lyoko being on emergency power mode." Yumi tells William, as William sighs.

"Okay, forget about what I said; just try and focus on contacting Keiko while I keep an eye out for any of Garuda's monsters." William tells Yumi, as Yumi is already pressing her left hands index finger on her forehead to concentrate, without giving a response to William as William takes notice of it.

' _Keiko? Can you hear me?'_  Yumi asks out into the void of Lyoko in hopes that Keiko would respond to her telepathy trying to work overtime to break through from Lyoko into the real world; sensors on her forehead begin to glow, as William takes notice, as they appear to be making Yumi's telekinetic attempts to communicate with Keiko easier, but as far as Yumi can tell, not a response just yet.

' _Keiko?'_  Yumi calls out again, as she waits for several seconds before letting out a sigh, then turning her attention towards William. "No response."

"So what do we do now?" William asks, as Yumi looks towards the activated tower just up ahead.

"We deactivate the tower while the emergency power mode prevents Garuda from materializing monsters for the moment." Yumi tells William, as she moves to carefully walk towards the tower, noting everything is too dark for her to see where the safe path is and where the long, immense drop an the endless void ocean below is.

William follows suit, carefully watching his step as well, all the while he can't help but feel like something is watching him and Yumi.

* * *

' _Precious little young adults like yourselves; looking for jobs, looking for your place in life, all in all just being wonderful pieces of human history in the New 30s decade. Did I ever tell ya'll of the time I had to feed one of Garuda's monsters human remains just to test and see if the Ultimate Form's cells were reacting within the life-form's body correctly?'_

' _More like how I'm going to fuck up your shit royally if we have to send the giant Dobber after you!'_

' _Cute, an- Wait, Dobber? What does that mean? First time for everyone, I suppose. Speaking of first times, did I ever tell you the pleasure of running a syringe into someone's neck just to keep them out of the waking world as to steal the Ultimate Form's cells with? Fun part was hiding the body, or, rather, disposing of it was that is.'_

' _SHUT THE FUCK UP, MEGALODON!'_

* * *

"Jesus…! I don't even want to know what Megalodon is doing behind our backs…" William takes notice of how he can hear Yumi's telepathic perception of Keiko and Megalodon's argument, as Yumi looks back at William with a shocked expression but also one of concern.

"William as much as I'd like to continue keeping an eye on Keiko's conversation with that psycho, I think I would be wise if we check on Ulrich and Odd first." Yumi asks of William, as William nods.

* * *

" _Sir, we have to report a problem."_

" _The Ultimate Form?"_

" _No, not even; something outside the facility, appearing to warp space itself to try and escape."_

" _And why do you suppose that's happening?"_

" _Well… truth be told, we've been hearing it appear muttering something's name…"_

" _If it's materializing from unknown space, tell me, why do you think I should bother risking sending out the Xenobiological. Artificial. Non-baryon. Analyzer. to investigate the matter? It's presence here among this lab is just as fragile as our own."_

" _With all due respect, Lowell, I think you might need to reconsider a course of action."_

" _And why should I, fleabag?"_

" _Well for one, you sick fuck, you might want to check out the trespassing blond in our vicinity; can't let him know the_ Dimetrodon _is due to escape, after all."_

" _And why should we care?"_

" _Because I'm here to transmit a message for you."_

" _And that is?"_

**"̡T͞h҉r̛̀ee̴ ̧̨d͝a͘͞͏ys.̵̷.̕.҉̀"**

* * *

All of her attempts to try and reach out for Odd and Ulrich only ends up with Yumi and William instead eavesdropping on something else unrelated; William couldn't help but shudder at that last "voice" spoken, due to how it sounds.

"Yumi, I don't like the looks of anything I'm hearing… We'd better just move and deactivate the tower, and hurry up out of here." William tells Yumi, as Yumi lets out a low growl of frustration, before letting out a yell into the air as she grasps at her head in sheer pain.

Within seconds, the sound of an incredibly high pitched roar can be heard; the sheer volume of the roar completely renders William and Yumi's hearing dead silent for a while; nothing more than just a low, eerie sound being heard on a continuous loop without interruption.

Moments later, as William and Yumi regain their hearing; the lights within Lyoko begin to return back to normal, as Yumi regains her composure to the best of her ability as the sudden, intruding noise calms to a quiet emptiness.

"Looks like Lyoko's power is coming back online, now might be a better chance to check on Ulrich and Odd." Yumi says, but then realizes that since Lyoko is returning to full power, that now William's suggestion sounds like a better option; she looks back at William, noticing his rather panicked but irritated glance, as she gives him a nod.

"R-Right; we'll head for the tower first, then investigate the guys afterwards." Yumi tells William, as she moves to rush ahead towards the tower, in clear view just up ahead, as William rushes after her to follow. Nothing can be heard or detected throughout the nearby vicinity, almost as if Garuda, or X.A.N.A. even, had completely lost interest in the duo within Lyoko.

Once they're at the base of the tower, William notices that there doesn't appear to be any door at the very root-like base of the construct.

"Don't worry, watch." Yumi reassures William, as she moves to enter the tower by walking through the root-like core at the base, almost as if walking through the wall itself. William has a careful look around, before entering the tower with her as well.

* * *

Once inside, the floor has a distinct appearance to it almost similar to the eyes on X.A.N.A.'s monsters; a circular outer center with four lines with three sprouting from the south and one sprouting from the north, and then a smaller circle within the larger one, and then a singular dot in the very center. Yumi approaches the center of the tower, as an unknown force within the tower lists her up into the air; William proceeds to do the same, as William feels the odd sensation of sorts flowing through his body again, just like when virtualizing for the first time.

Yumi lands on the terminal at the top floor first, with William not far behind. Yumi waits for William on the platform, as Yumi opens up a terminal on her side, as William proceeds to do the same; both of them push their right hands outwards and press into it, causing the terminal to scan their names.

[Yumi – William – Code: - LYOKO – Tower Deactivated]

[Materialization, Yumi – Materialization, William]

[Deactivation of all towers completed; would you like to initiate the return to the past?]

* * *

Keiko finally sees Yumi and William emerging from the supercomputer's scanners first, as Keiko first looks at the two emerging from their pods in an exhausted, drained state, as Keiko looks at the supercomputer and types into the keyboard before her.

"Return to the past, now!"

A wave of white light manifests over Keiko and the inside of the supercomputer room; the white light emerges from underground out towards Odd and Ulrich having stood against the transformed Freak; both of them had been waiting for it to make a move, but something was very wrong for the two boys right now as their expression goes into shock and horror.

"Hold on, Ulrich! Keiko's starting the return to the past!"

"What?! Doesn't she see Freak out here in this state?!"

"There's nothing we can do about it now; just track down Freak once we end up back to where things left off and make sure it doesn't escape us this time!" Odd tells Ulrich, as Ulrich looks over towards Freak; their weapons dematerialize long before they could have a last chance at Freak, but Freak just stares blankly as it witnesses itself being engulfed by the white glow before them.

Everything goes blank for a solid minute between all parties involved. Nobody around for miles upon end, nobody to witness anything that occurs for this minute; footsteps, however, make that silence broken by someone's approach.

* * *

William finds himself waking up from what he assumes was zoning out on his way to Kadic; he gives a careful look around to the forest around him, noticing everything appears intact, as well as noticing the polecat up ahead, doing exactly what it did prior to him reaching this spot, only this time around having noticed it being there.

"It's almost like it was all a vast dream of sorts, could anyone possibly remember it?" William thinks to himself out loud, as he hears chuckling behind him; William recognizes the voice, and immediately turns himself around to check on it; a man whose face is covered in a domino mask, as he wears a black suit and white tux for clothing with gloved hands and an obscured neck and head underneath of said domino mask.

"So you're the new meat to this vicious cycle I see; allow me to introduce myself, "dobber", my name is Megalodon." Megalodon introduces himself to William, as William holds himself back from lunging at the guy, and instead waits things out by asking something.

"You; how did you know I would be here?" William asks, as the masked man simply chuckles.

"Oh by any chance you weren't told? Better check that watch of yours and look at the time; high noon is rolling in soon for the second time today as we speak. You didn't get simply returned to wherever this Lyoko is, but you're back in the past to the moments before you arrive at Kadic and claim your new job." Megalodon tells William, as William gives him a glare.

"Keiko and the others, meanwhile?" William asks, as Megalodon simply tilts his head.

"Don't have a clue; nothing should've happened to them provided they didn't drop dead first. Speaking of which, did I ever tell you the time I had to hack into that supercomputer and reverse time after I had murdered a man? I had absolutely no means of escaping with my red hands cleaned so I had to rewind time just to prevent myself from getting caught. Turns out when I wake back up in the past, not only are my hands clean of the crime, but it's almost as if the man I had killed no longer existed all of a sudden; everything in his possession now legally belonged to me, and I'm thankful he allowed me to have it."

William moves to simply punch Megalodon in the face; Megalodon ends up getting blown across the clearing as he lands on the ground on his back; blooding leaking from underneath his mask as a stray tooth could be seen in a pool of blood besides his face, all the while Megalodon does not react by screaming in pain; he just starts laughing at the pain he has going on right now, almost as if he relished the bold decision on William's part; just laughing, laughing, laughing, and more laughing away as to William's scowl he gives Megalodon while he's down.

William moves to grab his cellphone, dialing in the authorities to come and pick up Megalodon. "Yeah, police department? I've just been attacked by a masked lunatic in the forest just on my way to Kadic University and-"

"You honestly thought calling them would be that easy, didn't you?" Megalodon's voice can be heard loud as day on the other end, as William's eyes widen.

"M-Megalodon?! But you're right here in front of me!"

"Am I? Am I really? Son for the matter, do I look like I had brown eyes to you? Take off that mask and see for yourself." Megalodon taunts, as William's eyes widen further as he moves to approach the man in the suit and mask, as William notices the pool of blood beside its head and notices the fallen tooth; it's appearance is way too sharp in nature to be from a human, as William's mind reels in what he thinks is underneath that suit and mask, as his suspicions turn right as jutting spikes emerge from the humanoid's backside, as a low, growling moan can be heard escaping it.

The figure moves to stand up on now bird-like legs as William quickly runs the other way towards Kadic, all the while emerging from "Megalodon's" costume and wardrobe is none other than the advanced form of Freak that Odd and Ulrich were about to track later on, as splitting open its mask covered head reveals a flowery maul of sharp teeth underneath as it lets out an ungodly, human-like shriek as it charges on two legs after William in a surprising burst of speed.

William quickly arrives at Kadic's outside terminal, entering in the code as he moves to quickly enter inside, with Freak following in pursuit behind him; Freak doesn't even realize what comes next as it finds itself telekinetically picked up off of the ground, only to slowly have its ribs crush itself inwards and blood emerges and pours from its torso, as its limbs disintegrate into dust as Freak lets out an inhuman moan as its last sound as William looks on in horror at Freak being destroyed.

"Hey! What's going on over- AAAIIIYYAAAAUUGHH?!" Jim shouts as he notices Freak's corpse being destroyed in plain sight, before sparks of light emerge from within its body as it lets out an ungodly scream towards William and Jim; both of them witnessing from sheer horror as Freak explodes from the inside out; blood, internal organs, and some amounts of skin and flesh littering the outside of the gate leading into the forest.

William pants to catch his breath as to what he had just witnessed, as Jim looks over at William and pats him on the back.

"William Dunbar the Third if my eyes don't lie to me, yes?" Jim asks William, as William looks at him and gives him a slow nod.

"No need for reintroductions; Ms. Ishiyama filled me in on every possible detail; you've just barely arrived on time to enter the safety of the university grounds before we lock up the campus grounds entirely from the outside." Jim tells William, as William blinks.

"Security lock down? From what?" William asks Jim, as Jim points to Freak's remains still left behind.

"Yumi told us a serial killer was out there, but Jean had his suspicions for a very long time he's been trying to hide that some kind of monster is lurking the premises, and that its most certainly not alone. I told him he was seeing things due to his age, but hoo boy could he not be any more correct now that we have most of the body of one of them here!" Jim tells William, as William sighs.

"I don't see how beneficial it would be to have any of the monster's body with us." William tells Jim, as Jim looks at William while giving a nervous chuckle, before an idea hits his head.

"Perhaps we do have a use; Jérémie is one of our students on this campus you see, and he's a science expert like you wouldn't believe. If we can carefully wrap up and preserve the monster's remains for him to examine, maybe we can have him take a look at them and see if we can invent some kind of repellant for them in the future!" Jim informs William, as William nods in approval.

"Now that sounds like a plan, Jim." William replies, as Jim gives off a big goofy grin in response.

"Well what are we waiting for? I'll begin fetching as many leftover pieces as I can while you report to Jean about our find of the century!" Jim orders William, as William nods.

"Gotcha." William tells Jim, before heading off to see Jean as he moves to head inside; the door opens, but this time he's not greeted to Yumi's presence as he had expected.

But the presence of a small, blond kid with glasses wearing a blue shirt and brown pants stands before William instead.

"Oh, my apologies Mr., uh…"

"Dunbar; Dunbar the Third. Who might you be?"

"Jérémie; Jérémie Belpois."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This chapter is kind of a breather compared to the prior chapter's intensity; don't get me wrong, intense stuff still happens, it's just toned down here. I ended up choosing the chapter name off of a movie I saw a trailer for when going to see Rampage 2018, called "The Meg". My dad and I had an eye roll at the fact they're not only attempting yet another shark movie, but the fact it's yet another movie which involves the ultimate prehistoric edgelord sea monster in the form of the Megalodon. Honestly it's the reason why I named Megalodon after the animal in question, considering his signature toothy grin whereas most of his other features are obscured as much as possible. Also that aside, it's about time for Jérémie's introduction.


	7. Chapter 6: Youth

"So, you're Jérémie, eh?" William asks the blond, significantly younger man before him; on a closer look, Jérémie looks no older than around 16, maybe even younger by a good two years, but not any further. His physique seems poor, more on the very thin side, with no real muscle in regards to potential physical adeptness. Glasses adorned on his face as his blueish eyes give him all of the more innocent of a look, he looks upon William in a mixture of a serious tone, but also the look of a young child who is in a deep amount of trouble, just waiting to be scolded.

"Jérémie, I don't know why you're so nervous, but you should probably calm down. Yumi and I have been able to take care of the 'monsters' as Jim and Mr. Delmas calls them, but-"

"It's all my fault, sir." An awkward silence fills the air as Jérémie spoke his confession he had to give, with William left with a confused gaze.

"… Pardon?" William asks, as Jérémie heads inside and has William follow him; Yumi is in view, having been watching Jérémie for a bit longer than before William spots her, but William moves inside as both he and Yumi access the terminal to allow them into Jean's office.

William's eyes open wide in shock and horror as he sees the electrical restraints, further reinforced by telekinetic bonds forged by Yumi, as a massive, four armed, three legged, an significantly larger specimen of Freak presents itself in a comatose state. "W-What the hell happened here, Yumi?"

"It broke down the security fence on the other end of the campus grounds; it didn't even need to bother with the door, it just flat out  _walked_  right through the barrier like it was made of tissue paper."

William expected those words to come out of Yumi first; he did not expect someone like Jérémie to speak them first, and in such a straight to the point and accurate manner. Jérémie, however, isn't finished as far as William can decipher from his facial expression.

"A Phase 3 life-form such as Frealliean would have no issue breaking through the barrier; animals can't break through it, and smaller vehicles cannot pierce through it either, not even at top speeds. For context, the Phase 1 Freallieans encountered elsewhere weigh 300 kilograms approximate, and then Phase 2 weights 600 kilograms approximate. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a creature whose very existence and immense mass defies the laws of physics themselves; crammed into a near 3.8 meter tall life-form, Phase 3 Frealliean weights approximately no less than 3,000 kilograms, with the specimen we have here being 4,387.2 kilograms exactly. Judging by its leg claws alone, it displays bone age of 10-11 years old; it's a juvenile of its own kind, in short, meaning it can still grow bigger than this."

Yumi looks concerned with Jérémie's speech once she determines he's finished, as William gives Yumi a glance as he looks back towards Jérémie himself. Jean, having stood mostly in the background, clears his throat as he tries to get everyone's attention on him, as Jérémie nearly jumps in his position and looks at Jean in high alert.

"I-I'm sorry, I was r-rambling again, wasn't I-I?" Jérémie asks, as Jean looks at Jérémie with concern, but a soft gaze at that just to reassure the spooked Jérémie.

"Jérémie, I understand you are perhaps one of the smartest individuals who have ever attended Kadic, and your GPA, as well as your analysis of the specimen before us, does amaze me to this day as to how you've dedicated yourself to your studies and grades. However, I do wonder why you had kept on hiding things from us for so long, when all we really are have us worried sick over your safety." Jean speaks, as William looks at Jérémie, kneeling to his level as Yumi observes.

"Jérémie, how is this your fault that this creature got in?" William asks, as Jérémie looks at him with a bit of fright and concern; he reluctantly pulls out his laptop as he moves to open it up, as the screen immediately displays a communication program of sorts.

"I had designed a signal specifically to attract life-forms such as Frealliean towards Kadic; it is not out of ill intent, but rather someone is calling out to me; someone who needs my help, and my desperate pleas to communicate with her-"

' _Her?!'_  William thinks, as Yumi's eyes open as she glance at William with a piercing telekinetic gaze.

' _Do not pressure him for information,_ _ **do not**_ _; we're lucky he isn't freaking out yet as it is.'_

With that mental note in mind, William sighs as he looks at Jérémie. "Go on, lad, you have something to say still?" William asks, as Jérémie glances away after having said the last bit; a blush is fading on his face, indicating to William quite a few red flags as to who or what Jérémie could be referring to.

"My attempts to call out were intercepted by the wrong target; Frealliean broke through the barrier as a direct result since the signal must've made it increase in strength dramatically; blinded in a fit of rage as it tried to breach through in its weaker forms, but I'm trying to tell you all I didn't mean to do this to everyone today!"

"J-Jérémie, please listen to us and calm-" Jean tries to say; Jérémie bolts out the nearest door he can find in a hurry, with William having been quick enough to notice tears falling from Jérémie's eyes before the blond boy moved to flee. Jean lets out an exhausted sigh as he looks over towards Yumi. "Put down the creature; this beast's living presence isn't helping any further." Jean harshly tells Yumi, as Yumi waves a hand over to face its palm towards Freak's third formed body; a crushing grip in Yumi's hand clenching together crushes the neck of Freak, as the restraints are released as Freak drops dead to the ground.

"I was hoping Jérémie wouldn't flee again like he has in the past; perhaps Freak bothered him after a while. I mean, if he did accidentally summon it here, he's probably too guilt ridden to stay sane in this room with us." Yumi states to Jean and William, as William raises an eye.

"… He's fled like this before?" William asks, as Yumi nods.

"Again, he's a special needs student; he's intelligent, but he's been diagnosed with Autism, as well as quite a handful of other kinds of mental illnesses such as social ineptitude, irregular sleeping patterns, a worker at heart but one who can't stop and take a break and care for his daily needs, he tends to keep his own thoughts and emotions so bottled up that it seems like it's something far worse effecting his mind." Yumi tells William, as Jean nods.

"He's very skittish, and getting any information about his wellbeing has proven difficult…" Jean says, as he looks over towards William. "He has proven difficult with communication directly; we've tried every means of tracking where he runs off during one of his breakdowns, but never any remote success." Jean tells William, as William nods as he looks directly at Jean.

"It's like you told me; he cuts curfew and nobody can catch him red handed despite video footage of him leaving the campus grounds." William states, as William's eyes narrow a bit as Jean looks upon William completely baffled beyond words.

"H-How… how did you know of that so soon? I mean, we haven't even had an official reintroduction aside from Yumi giving me the heads up of your arrival so you could get onto the campus grounds safely." Jean tells William, as William's eyes widen a little bit, before Jean places a hand on his chin as he eventually sighs.

"Nevermind… I understand it's tradition and professional to introduce ourselves to one another, but this isn't exactly a normal day." Jean tells him with a somber tone, as he looks over towards Yumi, "Yumi, would you be kind enough to give William a tour of the grounds and inform him of anything else he should know before he begins work? I'd like to have some time to myself to recover from what grievances had happened on my campus earlier this morning."

"As you wish, Mr. Delmas." Yumi tells Jean, as Yumi looks over to gesture William to follow her; William follows, and as he does, he and Yumi end up walking for quite a distance in the academy's interior.

Yumi doesn't utter a word for a solid five minutes; William doesn't speak anything because he can tell something is on Yumi's mind that he probably shouldn't disturb her for. As William walks with Yumi, he notices not only he himself passes through that a massive chunk of the hallway was destroyed and, judging by the massive, bird-like footprints, flat out walked through by the third form Freak.

William's eyes widen as he looks around as to the massive gap in the hallway, as multiple floors are exposed to the open air as William looks around and notices a few stains on the floors and the wall; stains a dark crimson that had mostly been cleaned up by now, but small traces of whatever substance was spilled remained, and William didn't even need to ask as to what had happened here as to why Yumi has been quiet so far.

Yumi slowly turns around at long last, letting out an audible sigh beforehand, before looking directly into William's eyes and stepping towards him to enter a closer proximity. "We hoped that we wouldn't have to detail you this information right away, William; Keiko wants me to make what I'm about to say explicitly clear that this is to not be uttered to anyone else, nor to be uttered to Jérémie. Understood?"

William looks shocked in Yumi's seriousness; he could understand that this is a serious mood due to Freak having achieved Phase 3 and broke into Kadic, but something about Yumi's tone uneased him; it sounded like she had intent on hostility towards him, as if blaming his entry into the group as for what had happened.

"Yumi, you have my word that I will not tell another soul about this; I don't feel it wise that you blame me for-"

" **Blame you for _what?!_** " Yumi shouts as she levitates herself into the air, a noticeable downburst of air knocking William onto his feet, as Yumi gives him a cold glare as her breathing becomes heavier. " **Children died today because of that monster, William! _Not 18 year olds, not 14-16 year olds;_ _6-10 year olds_  had perished because their quarters in this academy were the first things in Freak's way of chasing Jérémie's signal! I'm not mad at you, I'm not mad at Jérémie,  _don't you see?!_** "

Yumi is beginning to become on the verge of tears as she slowly levitates herself down to the ground, as William looks upon Yumi with every bit of seriousness and every bit of shock filling his mind; " **I have nobody I can blame but _myself_  for what had happened;**  **I could've stopped Jérémie from using the signal to call Freak**  here by accident knowing what it would've done! I could've given you much more warning ahead of time as to what the consequences of our battle with  _Garuda and **fucking**  Megalodon_ would lead in to!" Yumi shouts to William as tears begin flowing from her eyes, audibly beginning to cry as she speaks at this rate, as William moves to stand up and soften his gaze at Yumi.

"Yumi, we can use the Return to the Past and undo all of this, right?" William asks, as Yumi closes her eyes and tilts her head to face the ground; William's eyes widen as he slowly lets Yumi's gesture sink in, before questioning again in a bit of denial "… Right…?" William asks again; Yumi remains silent, as she slowly opens her eyes and looks at William with a still hurt and upset look on her face.

"I'm going to need some time to calm my nerves before my poor use of foresight can harm anybody again any time soon; if you wish to continue to talk, you can come with me back to my parent's home; you're not required to do anything right now, William; you decide what you want to do with how you want to adjust to now being one of us; you can flat out ask Keiko to let you leave if you truly wish, I don't honestly care what happens; it's your decision, and you have every right to freedom to make up your own mind without anyone else's judgment."

After Yumi tells William about her little rant, and what she'll be doing as well as William's own choices in the matter, she moves to leave the hallway as she moves to head out the door; the door was already destroyed by Freak walking through the part of the hallway it was for, but Yumi chose to acknowledge the door as if nothing was destroyed just yet.

William, noticing Yumi's concern and sadness, moves to slowly use the door in the same fashion she had done so and decides to follow her outside and following Yumi to her own parent's house, wherever that may be.

* * *

As bad as things are for Yumi and William right now, and perhaps even Keiko right about now as well, the same cannot be said about the subject that's on Keiko's mind right now in that; she is feeling significantly worse about what is going on right now, and she's not exactly upset like those two are.

She is scared out of her mind because Ulrich and Odd are currently nowhere to be found.

While she herself is safe from what is going on for the moment, she had messed up big time in getting too much to drink the prior time the clocks hit the afternoon.

"Damn it, Odd, Ulrich, where are you two?!" Keiko mutters to herself as she stays seated in her computer chair at the supercomputer, as she scans virtually every part of Lyoko for a trace of those two, as well as bringing up nearby regional maps in the real world to scan for their presences; nothing shows up on screen for either of the two men, as Keiko doesn't even bother with sipping from an open, half-full can of beer right not and focuses solely on the computer monitor.

"So is that homework you're working on, ma'am? Because it had better lest Jean finds out about your little hideout." Megalodon's voice suddenly comes up on the screen as his obscured in shadow mug shows up, with his grin and giant teeth clear as day however. Keiko simply closes out the window with the camera on Megalodon, only to be greeted with her cellphone going on, as Keiko turns her head angrily at her cellphone and moves to pick it up and answer it; her face scrunches up once she sees Megalodon's face yet again.

"Lovely little day so far after high noon just moments ago, ma'am. Did I ever tell you about the time I-"

An audible crack of glass and electronics is heard as Keiko slams the cellphone to the floor in complete frustration, as Keiko stomps on her cellphone for good measure.

"Didn't I tell you to fuck off already, Megalodon?!" Keiko yells at her destroyed cellphone, all the while a voice call is coming through on the supercomputer; Keiko doesn't move any other part of her body as she moves to turn her head and glance over to the screen.

"Almost 50 missed calls from Megalodon, of course. Really unless he has the information I need on Odd and Ulrich's whereabouts I'm not answering." Keiko says as she hangs up the call incoming from Megalodon again, only to mere seconds later get a call coming in from Odd. "Oh thank goodness…" She says as she moves to answer Odd's call.

"Odd?! Where did you and Ulrich go you guys have had me-"

"Worried sick, ma'am?"

Only yelling could be heard in the futile attempt Keiko made to punch out the computer monitor in record speed, only to fail and injure her hand as a result of the screen being made of Plexiglas. Keiko lets out a few frustrated, pained hisses, before letting out a disgruntled growl towards the monitor before quickly shutting herself up as her eyes widen in horror.

"Megalodon… how did you-"

"Get your two boys rounded up in my little work station so fast? See this is what you get when you're too busy trading insults to me without multi-tasking. Normally I'd reminisce here, but I've got some big news from the bird regarding your two so called friends, ma'am." Megalodon speaks, as he points the camera over towards Odd and Ulrich trapped in a room with a seemingly endless wave of Garuda's monsters spawning inside of it, and Ulrich and Odd using their respective powers to fight them off.

All the while both men look ready to collapse in exhaustion; Odd's senses dull as he fires a few laser arrow rounds and ends up missing his mark several times against a Diatrex, leading to him being smacked aside from the diamond saurian's tail, as Ulrich attempts to use his super speed to dodge attacks from several incoming Liquiraptors, and while successfully managing to dodge, he acquires burn marks across his arms each time, indicating it wasn't a perfect dodge, and then right behind him an electrically charged flying monster in the form of a wisp electrocutes Ulrich as he lets out a several second solid scream before collapsing to the ground.

Keiko watches in horror as the Diatrex has Odd pinned without effort, and the Liquiraptors are having Ulrich pinned as well, before Megalodon snaps his fingers to suddenly cause the various monsters in the room to de-spawn all at once, as Ulrich and Odd are both panting heavily audibly and physically; too heavily drained of energy to continue fighting Garuda's monsters or even attempting to escape. Keiko looks on towards the two in complete shock; horrified that Megalodon would put these two through this kind of insanity, all the while Megalodon's distinct chuckling can be heard as he moves the camera back onto his blue-eyed, brunet, huge jawed grin into clear view; the tininess of Megalodon's eyes in contrast to a massive nose and a huge mouth simply cause Keiko to turn the other way in disgust, as Megalodon simply chuckles.

"Seems like we both have things to worry about at the end of the day, ma'am. You have your associates to rescue, meanwhile I have ultimately much more important matters to worry about than the likes of these two, particularly the specimen with the Ultimate form's DNA in it." Megalodon tells Keiko, as Keiko's eyes narrow a bit as to what Megalodon could possibly be referring to.

"What are you playing at, Megalodon…?" Keiko asks, to which Megalodon simply chuckles, as he moves to press a few buttons on a terminal he pulls up; a photograph of a vaguely saurian shape appears, to which a few levers appear around its various points of its body, to which Megalodon adjusts the one closest to its head to maximum.

"How's about I show you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
> _In memoriam, Jodi Forrest; February 8, 1956 to June 25, 2018._  
>  **


End file.
